The Girl from Anaheim
by Nosedivefan01
Summary: The sound of a baby's cry, overturned furniture and a dead body on the floor. It's not even 10 a.m. yet, and Nora Flashblade has had to deal with all of the above. She finds herself faced with a choice. Leave the baby in it's own dimension and risk it dying before anyone can find it, or bring it with her. Guess which choice she makes? Rated M cause I tend to get carried away.
1. It's a baby

It was a snowy day in November. Outside the hospital window, you couldn't see a thing and Marissa was extra glad she was in the warm hospital bed. She glaced over at the hospital crib and felt a shudder. A month early. When she first felt the contractions, she remembered what the doctor had said her due date was and shrugged it off, figuring they were just Braxton hicks contractions. but then shortly after they started, her water broke.

5 hours later, on the 8th of November, her baby girl was shoving her way into the world.

Marissa looked over at the chair her son sat quietly in. He was kicking his legs back and forth as he stared at the crib with impatience.

"Jason?" the toddler looked up at his mom. She beckoned him over while a nurse came in, checking on the premature infant. She adjusted the breathing tubes and got some movement from the baby as she tried to wrap her tiny fingers around the nurse's finger.

"She's pretty strong for being a month early." the nurse said, almost suspiciously. Marissa smiled as she hugged Jason. She remembered her pregnancy with Jason. He had been a whole week late, and Marissa was astonished by how different her two pregnancies had been. Jason found himself pulling away from his mother slowly, making his way over to his baby sister.

The little girl's eyes were closed, and her skin was red.

"Why's her skin like that? Why's it red?" asked the 4 year old.

"It's because your sister is stubborn and came before she was ready." Marissa explained.

"So, you ready to try breast feeding again?" the nurse asked encouragingly.

* * *

A duck, about 5'7, stood staring at a computer screen. She had peach/tan feathers and long blond hair, which was presently tied up into a pony tail. She had piercing blue eyes that trailed across the screen she stared intently at.

"Anything yet, Nora?" Another duck stood at another screen just a few feet away, tapping at the keys every so often.

"No, not yet." she reported, her eyes hardening, trying to see something. All she saw was the grid, but nothing to show they had breached inter-dimension travel.

"We'll get there." The dark yellow drake replied, running a hand through his messy blonde hair. He turned his brown eyes back to his own screen.

"Nora! Nora, Layson, I've got something!" the blonde drake stood excitedly as the other two ran over. Layson was almost purely black. His blue eyes complimented his color nicely.

"What is it, Rudy?" Layson asked, leaning forward to look at the screen.

"It's a planet. Definitely not in Limbo. Looks to be..." he paused, glancing at his readings. "Warmer than our planet. And instead of Ice it looks like 66% of it is covered completely in water. This is astonishing! It looks as if it ca-" he was cut off as the computer began smoking and blew a few circuits from behind. They all coughed and looked behind the machine, "it can harbor life." Rudy finished his sentence.

"It has life on it?" Layson asked.

"Oh no, I don't think so anyways. I didn't get that far down the screen." he said, tapping his finger on the now blank screen, "but I highly doubt it."

"this is a huge breakthrough!" Nora said excitedly behind the two drakes.

"Since we've found a planet that can sustain life, I say we use it to test our gateways." said Layson.

the scientist pointed behind him to the circular arch. They had already successfully tested the portal, being able to get them from Point A to Point B on their own planet. Now, the next step was getting from one dimension to the next.

* * *

 _2 months later_

Marissa was pleasantly surprised by her new baby's growth. She looked her age; 2 months old, and you never would have guessed she was a preemie to begin with. She shocked all the doctors and Marissa couldn't help but feel proud of her baby girl for impressing everyone.

Jason sat on the floor, playing with his toy trucks. She watched the toddler and let out a sigh as her baby girl lay sleeping on her chest. Jason was definitely going to look just like his father, and it was going to kill her inside.

Jason's father, Edward, was killed about 6 months ago. Shortly after his death, Marissa realized she was with child.

Ed and Marissa had led an interesting life before the kids, dealing with gangs and mobs. On his last job before Jason was born, Ed was betrayed. It was a job Marissa begged him not to take but he promised it was the last one and then they could raise their son together.

A guy from the gang Ed was a part of, named Eric, had been with Ed on the job. Eric messed up and got himself caught. It wasn't as if they were stealing from a bank or museum... they were stealing a jewel, "The big beak", from a mobster. Eric had lied and neglected to inform Ed it belonged to the mob in the first place.

Eric saved his own hide, betraying Ed and sending the family on the run. They went across country but obviously, Seattle Washington wasn't far enough to get away from the mob. After her husband's death, Marissa moved herself and her son down south to Anaheim, California.

She was upset about her husband, and hoped the mob didn't know that Ed had had a family.

* * *

"I think that's it." Rudy informed his colleagues, snapping some cords together. He glanced at his computer screen, which was showing a 3D image of the habitable planet. He had the screen back up that had showed the readings from before, but he didn't bother reading through it again. He figured they knew it was inhabitable and that was good enough for him at the moment. In a chair next to the computer sat a curious eight year old.

"Ready to see history in the making?" he asked his excited daughter. She nodded vigorously, her wild hair bouncing back and forth.

"What's she doing here again?" Layson muttered, tapping something into the keypad by the gateway.

"Bring your kid to work day?" Rudy drew out.

"So why didn't Nora bring her kid?" Layson interfered, turning and slightly smiling at the woman.

"Wildwing isn't really interested in this sort of stuff and Nosedive's too little." she said simply as the gateway started up.

"I think this is going to work." Rudy said, switching the subject to the gateway in front of them. The blonde little girl sat on the chair obediently, as her father had told her to stay on the chair unless he told her otherwise. Her little brother had also been offered to come to her dad's work, but he wasn't as interested in this stuff as she was.

"So... who wants to go first?" Layson asked, kind of taking a step back and looking at Rudy and Nora expectantly.

"Wait, do you hear that?" Nora asked, and everyone was quiet as they listened. Inside the portal, it almost sounded as if a baby was crying.

"Is that... a baby crying?" Rudy asked, voicing their thoughts.

"I thought you said there was no life on this planet." Nora said, shaking her head and jumping through the portal.

"Well, um... I guess Nora gets to go... Without the rope..." Layson muttered, holding the life line up as if to demonstrate how dangerous of a choice Nora had just made.

"She'll be alright, I'm sure..." Rudy said, trailing off. No sooner had he spoken, the two ducks heard a clank from the gateway.

"What was that?" Layson asked, not sure he wanted to know the answer. Something came flying off the side of the gateway and Rudy and Layson shot each other worried glances.

"Nora! Get back here!" Rudy called into the gateway.

* * *

Nora came out on the other side of the gateway in what looked like a house. It was dark, with a dimly lit lamp knocked over on the floor. Furniture was overturned. It looked like a robbery had happened recently. Her heart began to race as she realized the robbers could still be here. She crept quietly through the house before coming upon a nursery. A crib was knocked over onto it's side and a woman was lying just beside it.

Nora rushed over, rolling the woman over. She gasped, realizing this woman had no beak. The woman was breathing, but just barely. Blood was all over her chest, and Nora had no idea where the wound even was or how this woman could possibly still be alive. The woman grabbed Nora's shoulder, taking a ragged breath. She seemed unaware that they weren't even the same species.

"Please. You have to take care of my babies." She gasped out before her hand fell from Nora's shoulder. Nora laid the woman back down as she walked around the side of the crib to where the crying was coming from. She scooped the pink blankets up and almost instantly the crying softened. She pulled back the blankets. The baby didn't have a beak either, but she was beautiful and stole Nora's heart almost instantly. Nora glanced around the floor, looking for another bundle of blankets.

"Babies?" she asked the woman, looking up. But she received no answer. The woman was dead now. She shook her head. The woman must have accidentally made the word plural. Nora looked down and saw a diaper bag sitting on the ground.

"Hopefully this has everything you need until we can go shopping." Nora said to the baby. The baby had completely stopped crying and cooed at the loving duck. She grabbed onto Nora's feathers, ever so gently, and it was as if the baby was hugging her. Nora's heart melted as she walked back towards the portal, never even realizing the stealthy four year old that watched from the shadows.

"Nora! The gateway's closing!" Nora heard the faint voice of Layson through the gateway and took off running, jumping through the portal.

"Get down!" Rudy commanded. Him and his colleagues hit the floor. Tanya listened to her father from where she sat and hit the floor as well. The gateway exploded and pieces went flying everywhere.

"Well, I guess that's it for our practice test for now." Rudy muttered, sitting up and looking back. "But at least we know we can do it."

"The only place to go from here is up." Layson agreed, grinning slightly at their accomplishment. They had successfully completely inter-dimension travel.

"What was it like, Nora?" Layson asked, looking over at the female. She was sitting up, her back slightly turned and was looking at something in her arms.

"Nora?" Rudy asked. Nora turned towards her colleagues, a slight smile on her face. They saw what she held in her arms. It was a baby, but it was missing feathers and a beak.

"Um, Nora. Wow, it's uh..." Layson trailed off.

"It's..." Rudy trailed off too, unable to find his words either. Rudy's daughter, having gotten up from the ground came over in front of the two drakes.

"Yeah, it's freaky looking, okay, that's what it is!" she said.

"Tanya!" Rudy scolded.

"Well it is!" The 8 year old defended herself. "I mean what the heck is it supposed to be anyways?" she asked Nora.

"Well, she's a baby." Nora said, offering her to Tanya. Tanya held her awkwardly, and the baby tugged on some of Tanya's loose bangs.

"Mind her head." Nora warned, knowing this baby she'd found was a youngling and didn't have full neck support yet. Tanya readjusted her right hand so it was more under the baby's head. She looked at the baby and the baby smiled, laughing at Tanya.

"You know, she's actually not too bad once you get used to her." Tanya said, smiling. "So whatcha gonna call it?" she asked Nora.

"Well, I-"

"What's going on here?" A gruff voice was heard behind everyone, and they all turned to see the general walking into the room. He must have heard the explosion and come to check it out. Some lieutenants stood obediently in the doorway.

"Nora found a baby..." Tanya muttered, giving the baby back to Nora and quickly moving away, not wanting to get in trouble for holding the baby that was another alien race.

"Nora? What's going on?" he asked gently, his tone giving away that he knew Nora personally.

"When I jumped through the portal, I heard a baby crying. The nursery was completely flipped upside down, so I brought her back with me." Nora explained.

"You kidnapped a baby?" he asked incredulously.

"Tommy, you know me better than that."

He looked down, sighing, before looking back up at her.

"Where were it's parents."

"There was only her mother. Something happened before I got there. Looked like maybe a burglary gone wrong. with her dying breath, her mother asked I take care of her baby." Nora didn't bother to say baby plurally like the mother had. No reason to confuse the general further or try to explain that the mother must have accidentally made it plural with her dying breath. Tommy sighed again.

"This is a delicate situation you've put me in, Nora." he murmured.

"I know, but I couldn't just leave her there. She might have died had someone else not come along in time. I couldn't let her die." Nora insisted. Tommy smiled.

"No, I guess you couldn't." He straightened up, "I'm making a call to the president. No one outside this room is to know about the baby til then."

* * *

 _author's note: okay, so I guess you could say that when I decided to rewrite this series, I really decided to rewrite the series. I realized it was too difficult to blame Anna's transportation to Puckworld as a teenager on just a mess up by the lizards. That and it was too hard to give them a good reason to need her for a plan, you know? Plus, I wanted her to have time to really develop relationships with the ducks instead of just shoving it down your guys throat that she already thought of Canard as a brother after only knowing him for like 4 months. I mean I guess it's possible but, meh. So, we're going to give Anna to the ducks at the whopping age of two months old. So, I hope you guys like this revamp. I'm definitely going to have fun with it! And if you don't, totally fine. Just keep it to yourself. I'm doing this for me, myself and I. Nobody else._

Disclaimer: I do not own Mighty Ducks. If I did, trust me. They'd be back on the air in a heartbeat with new seasons coming out asap.


	2. The experiment

President Alabose stepped into the room not an hour after the dimensional gateway had malfunctioned and exploded. He asked for the baby and in a matter of minutes, she had him smiling and playing with her.

"What an extraordinary creature." he marveled at the child.

"Mister president, the counsel will meet now." said a secretary girl that had come in with him.

"Ah yes, thank you." he said, still holding the baby and moving to the chair that had been set up for him facing the monitor, which was divided into six separate screens. One of the screens started to light up.

"Albus, you better have a good reason for this... I was just about to-" the female voice cut itself off as the white feathered duck saw what the president held. "Oh... oh I see." she murmured.

"See? What do you see?" The bottom right screen was still white and the duck clearly had audio working on his end but not video yet.

"Pipe down, Alasander. We will discuss the matter once the others join us." came the authoritative voice from the female.

A grey feathered duck with brown eyes appeared in the bottom right screen. He now saw what was addressed before but did as was told and stayed quiet until the rest of the screens were filled.

"I assume you all know why I called you." President Alabose announced once the screens were filled, and once he knew they had had time to see the baby.

"What is it?" asked one duck who had peach feathers and blue eyes.

"How did you come by it?" asked another duck with black feathers.

"Please let me explain what I know. Our scientists were working on a gateway. The kind that was said to have been used by the saurians hundreds of years ago to retreat from our planet."

"Rubbish." came the voice of a creature that wasn't a duck. A raptrin. He gave off a completely different demeanor than the rest of them. The ducks were genuinely curious about it, while he looked like he would have killed it the moment he set his eyes on it.

"I know not all of you believe the stories of Drake Ducaine, which is fine." Alabose responded to the raptrin quickly, "my point being... the gateway my scientists designed worked and one of them was able to pass through to the other side."

He paused, waiting for the ducks and raptrin to absorb what he was saying.

"Nora Flashblade passed through to the other side into a house not unlike our houses on our planet. When she entered the house she saw over turned furniture. She explored further and found a creature nearly dead on the floor. With it's dying breath, the creature asked Nora to take care of it's baby. Ladies and gentlemen, this is the creature's baby." he said, holding up the baby to show them. "Nora's motherly instincts kicked in. We can't blame her for that. So, with the gateway malfunctioning and her colleagues beckoning her back through, she did what she thought best and brought the baby with her." he explained.

murmurs broke across the monitor but not a single one was coherent.

"Please, please. Try to understand. We didn't mean to kidnap an alien baby." Alabose tried.

"But an alien baby we now have." the white female from before spoke up. It was clear of all the counsel members, she was the one who was really in charge. "and now as a counsel, we must decide what is to be done with her."

"Luna?" Alabose asked.

"What do you believe our choices to be?" Alasander asked from his screen.

"Well, one choice is to kill it and pretend this never happened." the raptrin muttered from his screen.

"You're talking about taking a life! Of an innocent child who has barely began to live no less!" came the response from the black duck.

"Okay, okay. Kill it and pretend it never happened or?" Luna pushed from her screen.

"With all due respect, Luna. I would personally vote we keep her and raise her as a duck." Alabose said from his screen. The counsel was silent for a moment.

"Raise this thing, whatever it is? As a duck? And what happens when it starts asking questions about why it doesn't have feathers?" asked Alasander.

"We'll give her feathers." Alabose shrugged, "or at least we can try. Nora." he turned his attention from the screen to his left. Nora had been sitting in the corner with Rudy and Layson. Tanya had been sitting on Rudy's lap. All of them had been quiet during this time.

"Yes, Mr. President?" Nora asked, walking over and appearing on screen to the rest of the counsel.

"Is it possible, do you think, to genetically alter this alien to look like a duck?" he asked her.

"Well, we could try. We'd have to run a few tests. See if she has the same systems as us. I mean, clearly this thing doesn't have a beak or feathers." she explained briefly.

Luna nodded from her screen, having heard.

"Very well. Nora Flashblade and her team of scientists will work together to find a way to alter the child." Luna explained. The counsel members nodded their approval.

"This meeting is adjourned." Luna said and soon the screens blacked out one by one til Luna's was the last one. She was about to turn away when Nora spoke up.

"Wait, counselor Starlight." Nora addressed. Luna turned back, giving Nora her attention.

"Listen, I might need a sample of DNA from a duck to be able to alter her. I have a friend who recently lost a child. I know she can keep a secret and I know she'd most likely be willing to give DNA to make this baby officially hers." Nora explained.

"You're sure she can be trusted?" Luna asked. Nora nodded.

"Yes. ma'am."

"Very well. Her and her husband may know of the child. But that's as far as I extend this knowledge. If anyone else finds out, it could be the downfall of our civilization."

"Understood. If we aren't successful in altering the child?" Nora asked suddenly.

"Then the counsel will meet again. But I can't promise the others wouldn't vote to have the child put down." Luna drew out. Nora gasped.

"But Counselor-"

"Nora, please. Just do your best. I don't like the idea of taking another's life anymore than you do. Even if it is an alien, a life is a life. I'll expect a call once the child's outer appearance has been altered." Luna said, showing she had full confidence in Nora's abilities.

"Yes, Counselor Starlight." Nora said as the screen went black. She turned back to Alabose who gave her a sad look.

"I'm sorry, Nora. I did my best."

"Don't apologize, Mr. President. I've just been issued a challenge, and I never back down from a challenge. In two months, I'll have this baby so altered, she'll look like she was born a duck." Nora promised, taking the baby from Alabose. "I promise."

* * *

 _2 months later_

Nora and the other two scientists stood around a machine. It looked like a cat scan machine, but it was so much more.

"Alright, ducks. This will be the first and last time we'll ever be able to test this machine. So let's hope it works." Nora began, taking the four month old and placing her in the machine.

"You ready, Chloe?" Nora turned to her best friend. Chloe breathed out.

"You know this is crazy, right? I'm already attached to her. If she doesn't make it-"

"She will." Nora assured, turning back to the machine she was putting the baby in.

"Good luck little Anna." she said to the baby, holding out her finger to her. The baby grabbed Nora's finger, cooing at her. Nora sighed out, rubbing her head against the baby's.

"I can't believe you named it. That's how you get attached to it!" Layson muttered from his spot.

"That was already her name." she argued.

"Besides, I like that name." Chloe argued for her friend.

"Just because a keychain on a diaper bag says Anna does not mean it's that thing's name." Layson argued.

Nora just shrugged before starting up the machine.

"Here we go, you guys ready."

"As I'll ever be." Rudy muttered. Nora pushed the cycle button and a light emitted from the machine, glowing a golden color.

The golden light went as soon as it came and Nora found herself almost running to open the machine. Chloe followed Nora over. The baby was quiet.

Nora picked up the still baby, holding her breath. Rudy and Layson came over, seeing the once featherless, beakless baby now had a pale orange beak and fluffy yellow feathers.

"Unbelievable. It worked." Layson remarked. Nora didn't say anything. She was still waiting for a sign of life. When none came, she looked solemnly at her friend. She passed the unmoving baby to Chloe.

"I'm sorry, Chloe. I got your hopes up." she apologized. Chloe took the baby in her arms, rocking her gently. Suddenly, little eyes opened to look up at Chloe. The baby cooed and Chloe rejoiced.

"Oh, little Anna!" Nora breathed out, hugging around her best friend and the baby.

"This is incredible. If I hadn't seen you pull her out of that machine, I'd think she was duckborn." Rudy exclaimed, "You did it, Nora!" he praised. She just smiled, motioning for Chloe to follow her over to the examination table.

"Now let's check some vitals and see how she's holding up being a duck." Nora said, passing a stethoscope to Chloe, "You're a nurse, right?"

* * *

"Extraordinary." Luna praised from the screen. The other members of the counsel seemed to be just the same amount of awe as the head duck.

A week had passed since the experiment and once it was determined there were no side effects, Nora contacted the president and little baby Anna was brought before the counsel.

"She looks as if she were born right here on Puckworld." Alasander added his praise.

"Chloe, you and your husband are prepared to take on this task?" Luna asked.

"We are." Chloe promised, holding the baby close.

"And your husband is aware this is to be kept secret." Luna probed.

"Of course, Counselor. And Canard's young enough I don't think he'll even bat an eye. He knew I was pregnant 4 months ago. It was difficult to tell him the baby didn't make it, so we've kind of been avoiding the topic, and I don't think he'll ask too many questions right now. As he gets older, we'll just explain the baby was in the ICU for 4 months." Chloe promised. It'd be hard to lie to her child, but if she was able to convince herself the lie was true, than it would make it ten times easier.

"Very well. The baby is now a Thunderbeak. A birth certificate and social will be made and set your way Chloe."

"Thank you Counselor."

Luna nodded in return before saying, "meeting adjourned."

With that the screens all faded to black except for Luna's. She turned back for just a moment, a warning look in her eyes.

"Be sure you keep this secret. It'll be easiest to just convince yourself this is the baby you gave birth to." Chloe nodded in understanding.

"I fear the worse if she ever found out she was from another planet." with that being said, Luna's screen faded to black.


	3. Welcome to the family

Chloe walked carefully along the newly cleared sidewalk. Her husband must have shoveled it and she silently thanked him. On her right arm hung her purse and the diaper bag. In her left arm, she carried a bundled up baby.

She walked in and directly in front of her was the staircase. If she would have gone left, she would have entered the kitchen. But instead she went right, shutting the door and heading into the living room.

"Hey honey!" she heard Pochard's excitement and heard a plate drop back into the sink. He must have been doing the dishes.

She knew he'd make his way into the living room and just sat herself down into her rocking chair, holding the baby. She pulled back the blanket, surprised to see the baby was awake.

She looked forward at the little boy who laid on the ground, watching toons. He hadn't really looked up since she walked in. She was sure he didn't even know she was holding his new baby sister.

She was pulled from her thoughts as Pochard entered from the kitchen.

"Oh sweetie, she's gorgeous." Pochard said, his eyes lighting up at the new baby.

"Isn't she, though? I'm already in love." Chloe admitted.

"So am I." Pochard admitted, brushing the baby's head.

"Mom!" both adults were genuinely surprised by Canard, who jumped up and ran to his mom, hugging her on the side she wasn't holding the baby on.

"What's that?" he asked.

"Well, silly, it's a baby." she smiled, holding Anna out for him to see.

"She's so pretty!" Canard commented.

"This is your baby sister." Chloe explained.

"What's her name?" Canard asked, genuinely interested.

"Her name is Anna." Chloe said to both Canard and her husband.

* * *

 _a few weeks later_

Chloe and Pochard made their way up the walk to the Flashblade home. Canard was holding Chloe's hand while Pochard carried Anna.

They walked right in, knowing Nora and Torrent were expecting them.

"Hi!" Nora greeted, walking out of her kitchen. She walked right up to Pochard, taking the baby from him.

"Hello, little Anna!" she welcomed, taking the baby into the dining room.

"Did... did she just take my baby?" Pochard asked, giving a playful confused look back to Chloe.

"Get used to it. She loves that little girl." Chloe said, patting his shoulder and walking past. Canard ran in, hopping on Wildwing.

"Wildwing, Wildwing! I've got a baby sister!" Canard exclaimed.

"Come on, boys." Chloe ushered, getting the boys to go sit in their designated spots in the dining room. Nosedive was in a high chair and Nora was still holding Anna while pulling a smaller high chair out of hiding.

Chloe cocked an eyebrow at Nora and Nora shrugged.

"We got two high chairs for Dive's baby shower and I'm too lazy to return things." Nora explained. Chloe let out a laugh at her friend.

"You are lazy, Nora." Chloe agreed as they all sat down to dinner.

"Well, I'd just like to thank you guys for coming." Nora said, once everyone had sat down. "And I especially wanna point out this little girl that has entered our lives." Nora added, holding out her finger for Anna to grab onto. "Great life changes have come our way, and I think these changes have started with just this little girl. I just wanted to take this time to give thanks." Nora explained.

Torrent nodded, "to little Anna." he said, raising his glass.

"To little Anna." everyone else around the table repeated before taking a drink.


	4. Life happens

_12 years later_

"Mom!"

Chloe heard a distressed call from her daughter and immediately took off running up the stairs.

"Anna! Anna sweetie, what is it!" she called, bursting into the bathroom. Anna stood there, a towel wrapped around her torso while patches of pink skin showed around her body. Her mane was missing some patches and she turned to her mom, tears brimming her eyes. yellow fluffy baby feathers lay here and there on the floor.

"Mom! I'm going bald! I can't go to graduation like this!" the preteen exclaimed, touching the rest of her dirty blond mane gently, feeling it fall out in her hands.

"Oh sweetie..." Chloe calmed down seeing no real danger, "it's fine, it's just-"

"Am I dying?" Anna asked, jumping to conclusions. "Do I have cancer?" she asked, staring at her mom.

"Honey, it's natural." Chloe insisted.

"Natural?" Anna asked. Chloe nodded. "Then why haven't I ever seen it happen to you?" Anna demanded suddenly.

"I'm not a pubescent teenager." Chloe informed, "at about your age, this starts happening. Remember Nosedive just started molting as well." she reminded.

"Well yeah, but I thought that only happened to guys." Anna muttered, turning back and touching a bald spot on her shoulder gently.

"Yo sis, you ready?" she heard her brother walking their way. "we're gonna be..." she heard him trail off as he entered the bathroom. "late." he murmured.

"I'm sorry, Canard. I regret to inform you I will not be attending your graduation. Not like this..." she said, picking up a pile of baby feathers exaggeratingly.

"Mom, can you give us a moment?" he asked. Chloe nodded and closed the door as she left.

"Hey kiddo." he started, picking up the brush and going behind her.

"No, don't! You're going to yank out my feathers!" she exclaimed, grabbing her remaining mane protectively.

"That's the idea, sis." he said, firmly moving her arm and pulling the brush through. The feathers came out with it.

"No, no! Not my mane!" she shrieked.

"Anna!" he stopped, turning her around to look at him, "it has to happen." he insisted.

"But my feathers-"

"Will grow back." he interrupted. "Remember 6 years ago, the same thing happened to me?" he asked.

"Kind of." she admitted.

"Do I have feathers?" he asked her. She only nodded.

"It's natural, baby girl. Your feathers will be back before you know it. More shiny and gorgeous than before."

"You promise?" she asked.

"Cross my heart!" he promised, making the motion. "Now let me get your loose feathers out of the way so I know what I'm working with here."

* * *

The day was the perfect feel of chilly. It was the end of May, and the Principal and superintendent had just started giving out the diplomas to the graduates. Anna honestly thought she might fall asleep. She loved her brother, but the ceremony was taking forever. She found herself glancing around. She sat between her mother and Nora. On Nora's other side sat Torrent and on the other side of him sat Nosedive. Nosedive's brother, Wildwing was also graduating. They had all been family friends since before Anna could remember. Nora and Torrent were like a second set of parents to her and Canard and the same could said about her mom with Wildwing and Nosedive.

Anna sighed out, tears suddenly stinging her eyes. She felt a pang of jealously towards Dive. He was sitting next to his dad. He got to hold his dad's hand, not that he was. About a year ago, her dad was murdered. The murderer had never been caught and the only thing recovered at the scene of the crime was a golden feather. almost kind of like a goldish brown colored feather. After she heard the crime had been committed with a blade, she had registered herself into a martial arts/military sabre class. It basically taught you self defense with or without a blade. She loved the class. It gave her something to do and she felt she'd be ready if ever she did happen upon the bird who killed her father.

"Canard Haymish Thunderbeak." her attention was drawn back to the graduation ceremony. Her mom started snapping pictures beside her and their line of ducks started clapping and whooping, the same they had done for Wildwing about half an hour ago. That was the problem with big high schools. Too many people graduating all at once.

After the ceremony, they all found themselves outside. Chloe took a picture of Canard and Anna together, much to Anna's protests. Then, finally, Wildwing and Nosedive made their way over from Wildwing's spot in line with their mom and dad trailing behind them. Wildwing and Canard hugged each other in congratulations before posing for the camera together.

"Ooh, lets get one with all the kids!" Nora suggested. Chloe nodded in agreement, forcing Anna into another picture.

"But mom, you know I'm molting!" she protested.

"So am I!" Nosedive said excitedly. He plucked some baby feathers from his head, "embrace the molt, Annie! Embrace it!" he exclaimed, pulling her in under his arm and posing for the picture.

* * *

 _4 years later_

It didn't take long for Anna's beautiful light brown feathers to grow in after that. Her mane had grown back just as long as ever and was a beautiful dark mahogany brown. Her eyes remained the pure unnatural blue they had been since before she'd gotten feathers. Everyone she met always commented on how beautifully unnatural her eyes were, but it was because no other duck on the planet had eyes like that.

After High School, Canard had gone right into the military. Two years later, after accelerating through the ranks, he left to get an education. Wildwing, on the other hand, had gone right to college on a full ride scholarship for hockey. Canard had received the same scholarship, much to the school's surprise, and as soon as he joined Wildwing at college, that scholarship came into affect and before he knew it, he and Wing were playing together again on the same team. Wildwing was starting goalie, while Canard had been starting left wing. His positon in High School had been Center, but Senior Harley Farris had been Center since Sophomore year and Canard respected his position, up until Harley graduated. After he graduated, Canard tried out for Center and shortly after he was awarded the spot, was also made team Captain.

Now, Wildwing was a Senior and Canard was a Sophomore. Both roommates and both still best friends.

* * *

Nosedive was practically running through the halls, holding something in his hands that wasn't quite visible.

"Annie! Annie!" he called, making his way to the commons area.

Anna was sitting there at a table, having some breakfast with Jake and Jessica before classes started. Jessica was a senior, and was Jake's older sister. Jake and Dive were juniors while Anna was a sophomore.

"Dive, what?" she asked when he ran up to the table. He held out the card pridefully.

"I... I got... my license." he said between breaths.

"Let me see that!" she demanded, snatching it from him.

"They gave YOU a license?" she asked disbelievingly.

"And why not?" he asked, snatching it back, "I'm responsible!"

She just snorted, "right, that's good one Dive. And I'm a raptrin." She mocked playfully.

"Oh hardy har! Fine! Be that way, Annie! See if I ever give you a ride home!" he snapped back.

"In what car?" she asked, raising an eyebrow. His face fell.

"I'm, you know, saving up for one." he defended.

"And how much have you saved thus far?" she asked. Barely audible, Nosedive responded, saying quickly, "twenty bucks."

She laughed slightly as his head hung. Seeing his face, she put a hand on his shoulder.

"Divey, you know I'm only messing with you. I'm sure you just started saving." she tried.

"Actually, I've ben trying to save for a couple years but now that I've got this baby, I've got myself some motivation!" Dive exclaimed proudly.

"Just remember, when temptation calls, you can't drive a comic book to school." Anna warned, knowing the source of what ate most of his attempted savings.

"I've got about 40,000 saved up but all that's going towards college." Jess put in.

"How the fuck did you swing that?" Nosedive exclaimed.

"Language, Mr. Flashblade!" nobody had seen the teacher that had happened to walk by at that moment.

"Oh, my bad, Mr. B!" Nosedive called apologetically. The teacher just shot a warning look before walking away.

"Anyways, Jess?" Anna asked, also intrigued.

"She works and has no fun." Jake intervened.

"yeah, but 40,000? How long have you been saving?" Anna asked. The bell rang just then and the students grabbed their bags.

"It's like Jake said, I work, keep out just enough money for gas and toss the rest into savings." Jess said, standing up and gathering her books up in her arms.

At about that point, they reached her homeroom and she bid them farewell before walking in. A little down the hall, Nosedive and Jake disappeared into Mr. B's room. Across from their room was Anna's homeroom, and she entered it quickly, taking her seat.

* * *

The dorm room was quiet while both drakes were hard at work studying.

"You excited for winter break?" Canard finally broke the silence, closing his book. He had obviously retained enough information to hopefully pass whatever test was coming up.

"Hell yeah." Wildwing said, shutting his book as well, "I mean, granted a big part of the excitement is mocking how long Nosedive's break is but still." Wildwing chuckled slightly.

He knew his little brother was sick of school, and he took every opportunity to playfully torture him. When Wildwing and Canard were to get home, Nosedive would still be in school. Then, of course, the teenager would go on winter break but by the time Wildwing and Canard even needed to think about being on a train back to school, Nosedive would already have to be going back to his own school.

"You really get a kick out of torturing your brother, don't you?" Canard mused.

"What, you don't enjoy torturing Anna?" Wildwing shot back.

"If only it were so easy." Canard muttered, "The kid loves school."

"Well, she is your sister." Wildwing commented.

"Yeah, but that doesn't seem to mean anything in your case. You love school." Canard argued.

"Touché." Wildwing said, looking thoughtful for a moment.

"So, will Emily be joining us on the ride home?" Canard asked, changing the subject slightly.

"I don't know yet." Wing admitted, "I asked her. I'm just waiting on an answer."

"She didn't answer right away?" Canard asked, raising a skeptic eyebrow.

"She said she'd call her mom and see what she had planned for the holidays."

"Oh yeah, I guess that makes sense." Canard agreed.

* * *

Anna walked in the house just as the phone started ringing. Her mom wasn't there and she knew Nurse Chloe must be working late again.

She went to the phone, picking it up.

"Thunderbeak residence." she answered the phone.

"Hey kiddo."

"Hey Can!" she was surprised to hear her brother's voice.

"So, did you help mom get set up for the annual Thunderbeak Christmas party?" he asked.

"Don't I always?" she asked, raising an eyebrow.

"I just wanted to make sure, kiddo. You know how she gets this time of year..." he trailed off, making his point.

"Yeah, I know." she murmured.

"How are you holding up?" he asked suddenly, realizing he couldn't just single their mother out.

"It's another year without dad, Canard. I mean, what do you want me to say?" she partly snapped into the phone. Canard was silent for a moment.

"Sorry." she muttered, "It's just, it's been like five years. The pain never fully goes away and I understand that, and I don't know why we need to bring it up. I mean, I've moved forward with my life, and so have you. Why can't she!"

"It's hard, Anna." he tried.

"I know it's hard, Canard!" she snapped, "he was my father for Christ's sake! My point being is I'm no longer sulking about it!"

"Anna, give her a break. They were together for years before we came along. She had way more many years with him to grieve over." he snapped back at her. She sighed.

"I'm sorry. I guess I didn't think of it that way." she was annoyed but knew Canard had made a point somewhere in there.

"And you're not over it either. I've seen the way you watch golden feathered ducks." Canard drew out.

"It's not my fault." she tried.

"Anna-"

"No Can. They never caught the guy! So yes, I'm going to remain shifty around golden feathered ducks until I pinpoint the mother fucker who killed our father," tears brimmed her eyes, "and then, I'm going to kill him!" she promised.

"Anna, you know that won't make the pain go away." he tried.

"It's what he deserves." she growled, a sob breaking. Canard wished he never would have brought the subject up.

"Look, kiddo, I know how you feel. I miss dad, too. But you can't fix it... no matter how many martial arts classes you attend, as much self defense you practice... if you ever did find the sonofabitch and if you did kill him... it wouldn't bring dad back, and you know it!" he said the last part sternly, reminding her what she should already know.

Tears fell freely now.

"I know, Can. Listen," she sniffed, "I have a bunch of a school work and-"

"I pissed you off. I know, kiddo, I'm sorry I brought it up. I hate it when my baby sister cries." he said. "Wing and I will be home this weekend."

"Okay." she said.

"Love you, sissy." he playfully added. She smiled, letting a small laugh/sob break through.

"Love you too, fat head." she shot back at him. He slightly laughed, but the conversation was over and they both hung up their phones.

Anna held the phone in her hand for a second as she sat on the couch, staring at nothing. The phone startled her, ringing in her hand barely a minute later.

"Whatcha forget?" she asked, figuring it was Canard remembering something.

"Hello?" came the confused voice.

"Trent?" she asked, recognizing the voice.

"Oh, uh. yeah. Anna?" he asked.

"Sorry, I thought you were my brother calling back." she explained.

"Oh, well nope. Not your brother. Just a guy wondering if this cool chick I know wanted to go see a cool movie with a cool guy." he said.

"Which cool guy?" she asked.

"Me silly!" he said, laughing.

"Wait, you're cool?" she asked playfully.

"Anna!" he scolded playfully.

"Just kidding, of course you're cool. And yes, I would be happy to attend a movie with a cool guy. What time and what day?" she asked.

"How about Saturday?" he asked.

"Saturday sounds great."

"7:30 sound good?" he asked.

"Yup, sounds good to me." she replied.

"Alright, sounds good. I'll pick you up at 7:30 on Saturday!" he said excitedly.

"Alright, bye!"

"Bye!"

She hung up the phone and went off to her room. She hadn't lied about the homework and had a test to study for.


	5. Enter Falcone, stage right

"I don't know, Anna. You know how Canard's going to be when he finds out his favorite sister went to the movies with some guy instead of meeting him at the train." Chloe interpreted as she stood in the doorway to the bathroom. Anna stood there, trying to pick a style for her mane.

"I'm his only sister, I have to be his favorite. And besides, it's not some guy. It's my boyfriend of 4 months." Anna explained.

"And how exactly were you planning on breaking the news to him that you're officially dating?" Chloe asked. Anna just smiled. A knock was heard at the door and Anna tied the tie in her mane and turned to her mom, kissing her cheek.

"I'll improvise." she said, rushing past her mom, "gotta go!" she said.

"Wait, where are you going to be?" she asked.

"Westside theater." Anna called, already half way down the stairs.

"Alright, sweetie. Have fun! Love you!" Chloe called, giving up.

"I will! Love you too mom!" she said as the door to the house slammed.

* * *

 _A couple hours later..._

"Mama, we're home!" Canard called as he and Wing entered the house with their luggage.

"Hey sweetie!" Chloe called, walking down the stairs in some scrubs.

"You gotta work tonight?" Canard asked. Chloe nodded.

"They just called me in. I wasn't supposed to but Carla got the flu." she informed.

"Oh, hey. where's Annie? She didn't meet us at the train station like normal." he said, cocking his head. Chloe stopped putting her shoes on and just sat there for a second.

"Now, don't get mad." she started.

"Ma, I'm not going to get mad." he tried.

"She's at Westside theater-"

"With a few girlfriends, right?" he asked. Chloe shook her head.

"On a date?" he asked, his eyes narrowing. Chloe nodded and Canard growled.

"Now don't you think about going down there, Canard Haymish!" Chloe warned, pointing a finger at her oldest as he grabbed the truck keys from the hook.

"I'm not! I'm just gonna take Wing home, right Wing?" Canard said, patting Wildwing on the back.

"Oh uh, yeah. Sure." Wing said, picking his bags back up and slinging them over his shoulder.

"Love ya, Ma! Have a good night at work!" he said, kissing her cheek and ushering Wing out the door before she could say a word.

Wildwing tossed his bags in the backseat of the truck before scooting into the passenger seat.

"We're going to the theater, aren't we?" he asked, looking at Canard in the driver's seat.

"Yup!" Canard confirmed, stepping on the gas.

Chloe sighed, pulling on her coat and grabbing the keys to the car.

"I hope he doesn't do anything stupid." she muttered as she left the house, locking the door behind her.

* * *

Anna and Trent walked out of the theater, heading towards Trent's dad's truck.

"So, uh... did you like the movie?" he asked as they walked towards the truck. They had caught the late show and had stayed past the credits. Ever since they missed a secret ending on a movie about two months ago, they stayed past the credits now.

"It was pretty good. Probably would have helped if I didn't have a handsome duck sitting next to me, distracting me." she said with a smile.

"Okay, Anna. I'm calling you on that one, that was cheesy!" he said, making a face.

"Shut up and kiss me." she muttered as they reached the front end of the truck. He took her into his arms.

"As the lady wishes." he kissed her softly, and Anna felt as if she'd practically melt, even though it was the middle of winter.

They heard a throat clear and turned abruptly towards the sound. A raptrin stood in front of them, holding out a blade and pointing it at them. He had brownish gold feathers and Anna's eyes widened once she realized they were getting robbed.

"Wallets, jewels and anything else of value you might have on you." he demanded.

"And if we refuse?" she demanded back.

"Anna!" Trent hissed, grabbing her hand.

"Listen to the chap there, ol girl and we won't have any problems." he said, directing his blade more in her direction.

She silently cursed herself. This had to be the same guy that killed her dad. Same color feathers, robbery done with a blade... and she didn't have her own sabre. Or at least she had one she checked out for her class, but she always left it in her locker.

"How about that bracelet." he demanded, seeing it glint in the light of the nearby parking lot lamp.

she smirked. For a thief, he didn't really know his jewels.

"Seriously?" she scoffed.

"Stop, Anna."

"No, seriously. How much do you think it's actually worth?" she asked the raptrin. She caught him off guard and he took a step back, looking sheepish. Before she could get an answer, though, she saw a shadow behind the raptrin and the nearby parking lot lamp went out, causing the parking lot to become darker.

"Falcone, what's going on here?" came the Brooklyn accent and a grey duck stepped from the shadows, his brown eyes almost instantly connecting with Anna's. She glared, seeing he knew the raptrin that had killed her father.

Falcone didn't answer, knowing he'd been caught.

"What did I say about kids?" the newcomer asked, scolding Falcone. Falcone looked down, guiltily.

"But..." the falcon had nothing as he stood quietly.

"You kids are alright to go. Sorry about this." the newcomer said. Trent nodded, already running for the driver's side. Anna stood there.

"I'm not going anywhere." she growled.

"Anna!" Trent tried, pulling the door open.

The grey duck looked back at her, shocked.

"What?"

"He killed my father!" she growled. The newcomer turned on Falcone.

"Is this true?" he asked, demanding an answer.

The falcon wiped the guilty look off his face.

"I can't recall killing your father, little girl. Sorry. Now run along." he tsked at her. She wasn't having it.

"His name was Pochard Thunderbeak. He had light brown feathers and green eyes. Did you kill him!" she stepped in front of the grey duck so she was face to face with Falcone.

His eyes met hers, and he got an icy grin on his beak.

"Yes, alright. I did kill him." his attention turned towards the other duck. "the same way I killed Kale L'Orange!" he shot at the grey duck. His eyes went wide at this information before his jaw hardened.

"I knew it. You wanted that spot on the counsel." the grey duck muttered, piecing it all together.

"Yes, but no. They give the spot to Kale's baby brother, Duke." Falcone squared up with Duke, pushing Anna out of the way. "The spot that should have been reserved for the greatest thief of all! Me!" he said dramatically.

"The greatest thief of all, and you're out here stealing from kids?" Duke shot at him.

"But of course. That's what makes me better than you." he turned sideways and Anna saw him reaching for his sabre from where she was.

"Look out!" she yelled, and Duke's eyes went wide as he saw Falcone's sabre come out of hiding. He grabbed his own from his shoulder but by the time he activated it, Falcone had brought his blade up. Anna didn't see what happened. She only saw Duke fall backwards, and saw a bit of blood splat on the ground.

"Oh no." she gasped, having realized her and Duke were on the same team. She sprinted past Falcone to the fallen duck. There was blood, she could see, falling from a fresh chip in his beak and a cut above his eye. At least, she hoped it was above his eye.

"Here." she grabbed his hand and placed her handkerchief in it before moving his hand to put pressure on the cut above his eye. She turned to see Falcone approaching them.

"I don't know why you're bothering." he said, pulling back his sword and aiming for Duke. Anna looked to her side, seeing where Duke's sabre had fallen. She grabbed it, and activated it. She met Falcone's blade, stepping into his attack. He looked genuinely shocked but soon wiped the look away from his face.

Trent had gotten out of the truck and kneeled by where Duke had fallen. He had a towel that he kept in the backseat, usually for gym class, but he brought it over, pressing it over the already bloody handkerchief and beak.

"You alright, pal?" he asked. Duke just nodded, not wanting to talk if he didn't have to. His beak fucking hurt!

Anna threw Falcone's blade back, but he brought it back for another attack. She blocked it skillfully. They went back and fourth, throwing attacks and blocking attacks for what seemed like forever.

Finally, Anna was able to throw the sabre out of Falcone's hand. He looked to where it landed before looking back, seeing her blade pointed at him. His hands were up and he looked as if he might try pleading for his life. Anna gritted her teeth, seeing red. She didn't even register the squealing of tires in the parking lot.

"Anna!" her brother's voice pulled her away from the raptrin. Her eyes never left the bird, but she could now see her brother out of the corner of her eye.

"he killed dad!" she explained to Canard.

"Good, we'll call the police. Good work, Anna." Canard praised.

"Oh no, he's not going to jail. I was thinking more like the morgue." Anna said threateningly. Her arm started twitching slightly and she realized she didn't even know if she could take his life.

Falcone jumped back at the word "morgue".

"You're going to kill me?" he asked, and everyone around her held their breath. She deactivated the sabre, sighing. "no." she muttered. He sighed with relief before she squatted down, kicked a leg out and tripped him and landed on top of him landing a good punch right to the left side of his face. He groaned.

"I won't stoop to your level!" she growled, grabbing a fist full of feathers and slamming his head into the pavement. She looked at Canard and Canard knew he was okay to go to her now. Duke was standing now and they had managed to stop the bleeding on his beak. He still held the handkerchief to his eye though. Duke and Trent walked over as did Wildwing who had been standing by Canard's truck up to this point.

Canard gripped his little sister into a huge hug, resting his chin on her head.

"You're uh... you're pretty good." Duke commented and Anna realized she was still holding his sabre. She held out the handle to him and he took it back.

"Sorry. I guess I kind of borrowed it without asking." she muttered.

"I'm glad you did. Otherwise we both mighta been shish kebab." he muttered, putting the sabre handle back on his shoulder. She smiled at him and at about that moment Trent pushed his way through, kind of booting Duke out to the side of the group.

"Oh Anna, I was so scared!" he said.

 _Why? she's a skilled fighter._ Duke wondered but he kept it to himself, glancing over at Falcone who lay on the ground. Falcone was sitting up, his gun pointed at the group.

"Little brat." he heard him mutter and knew he was aiming for Anna. Duke rushed towards Falcone, landing on his arm just as a shot rang out in the parking lot.

Duke punched Falcone again, knocking him out. He then took his gun and handcuffed him to the lightpole near by.

"Stick around, Falcone." he muttered before glancing back at the group. Someone was on the ground and he rushed back over.

"Anna!" Canard's voice echoed through, and Trent had tossed him the towel from before. Anna was shaking on the ground, going into shock as blood came oozing from a wound in her shoulder. Duke bent down, taking her hand.

"I'm sorry, Anna." he murmured.

Canard wrapped the towel around her shoulder, tying it tight to try to stop the bleeding.

"Wing, help me get her in the truck!" Canard said, grabbing her upper torso. She screamed in pain as his arm grabbed her shoulder wrong.

"I know baby girl, I know. It hurts." Canard tried to sooth. Duke stood back, not sure what to do. Probably nothing would be best. Trent was following behind Canard, trying to check up on the bleeding girl while they were trying to get her taken care of. Once he heard the back door to the truck slam, he decided it would be best to take his leave.

"Wait." Canard stopped him, the door to the truck hanging open for him. Trent had already ran over to his truck and was waiting to follow them to the hospital.

"I want to thank you. That shot might have been lined up to kill her." Canard started.

"It still might if you don't get a move on." Duke warned.

"What's your name." Canard asked.

"Go! Get out of here!" he commanded, "I'll take care of the trash." Duke promised, pointing behind him to Falcone.

Canard just extended his hand, shaking Duke's.

"Thank you again." he said before turning around and jumping into the truck. Duke stood there as both trucks sped away before he turned around to Falcone. Falcone was just coming to and Duke grabbed him by his cape. As he pulled him forward, he twisted his arm wrong in the cuffs and the falcon cried out in pain.

"Now you listen to me, Falcone. I don't care where you go. But if you ever show your face back at the Brotherhood, I can promise you, you'll be dead before you even hit the ground." he growled. Falcone gulped before nodding.

"yes Duke. Of course, Duke. Whatever you say Duke."

Duke dropped him and Falcone realized Duke had undone the cuffs. He picked up the cuffs and looked at them before glancing around the parking lot. Duke was gone, without a trace.


	6. Duke's impact

Duke walked into the warehouse, the handkerchief still against his eye.

"Duke what the fuck happened to you?" he turned his head to one of his oldest friends, Darren.

"Long story." he murmured. "Help me get to the infirmary." he said, knowing his eye needed to be looked at.

"Yeah, yeah. Sure thing." Darren said, taking Duke's arm and guiding him in the right direction. Duke could see where he was going with the one eye but he was glad to have Darren on his right so he didn't bump into anything.

"Duke?" The blond female looked surprised to see the duck here.

"Hey, sweetheart. Got an eye problem." he said, removing the handkerchief. she gasped, seeing the damage.

"Duke, um... it looks pretty bad." she said.

"Yeah, it feels pretty bad." he muttered, sitting down in the exam chair. She laid him back, pulling the handkerchief away. Darren stood nearby, ever loyal.

"Darren, you ain't gotta wait around for this." Duke muttered as the girl, Sharla, went about with a warm rag, dabbing gently around his eye to get the dried blood wiped off.

"It's fine, Duke. Besides I'm pretty curious as to what happened." Darren mused.

"As am I!" Sharla scolded, "you weren't supposed to be in here til next week for your yearly physical!" she hissed. He smirked.

"Sorry sweetheart, just had to see ya." he joked and she slapped his arm as she wiped the blood away.

"Duke, this looks like it was done with a blade." she trailed off.

"Uh, yeah. That's just about what happened too." he confirmed.

"Duke, spill." Darren said, sensing his stalling. Duke didn't like it when someone else got the upper hand and obviously that was what happened here.

"Alright, alright. Falcone turned on me." he explained.

"What?" Darren seemed genuinely shocked, as he should have been. Nobody really saw it coming. Duke had his suspicions up to that point, but he hadn't even expected it to happen the way it did.

"I caught him trying to steal from some teenagers. They obviously didn't have much, and so I stepped in and told him to knock off the stealing from civilians. We don't do the little crimes, we do the big crimes. We do bank and museum heists. Not pearls from some lady on the street." Duke was voicing what they already knew. He was just making a point that Falcone shouldn't have been doing what he was doing.

"When I told the kids to get on up out of there, the girl... she stopped and there was a form of hatred in her eyes I hadn't seen in anybody ever. She accused Falcone of killing her father."

"Did he?" Darren asked, intrigued.

"He didn't confess at first..." Duke trailed off.

"Oh my god, he did." Sharla said, gasping. Duke nodded. "Hold still a sec." she said, sticking a needle near the cut on his eye to numb the area up.

"He did. And he said he killed the kids father the exact same way he killed Kale L'Orange."

Darren couldn't tell but Sharla could see tears in Duke's eyes, though they could have just been from the pain.

"He killed Kale!" Darren said, gritting his teeth.

"Yeah. He killed Kale thinking he'd get his spot on the counsel. His anger about me getting the spot came out and I didn't see it coming. I should have known he'd whip out his blade on me when he turned sideways. I just... he turned back around and I just felt this intense pain come over my beak and eye. Next thing I knew the girl from before was pressing that handkerchief to the side of my face. Falcone wasn't done yet. He tried to finish me off. He might have, too, had that girl not been there." he paused, letting them process what he'd already told them.

"She picked up my sabre. She knew how to activate it and stopped Falcone's attack." seeing Darren's eyes go wide, Duke smiled, "she did more than that, actually. She fought with him and even disarmed him. It was amazing. I thought she might actually kill him." Duke muttered.

"I bet. I mean, I can't imagine being in her shoes, finding the creep that murdered her father." Darren tried to sympathize with this girl Duke described.

"She was amazing, Darren." Duke praised, "I mean, probably her most amazing moment tonight was when she showed the will to spare the filth's life. She still kicked his ass, but she didn't kill him." he then looked away from Darren as if something was bothering him.

"What?" Darren asked.

"I'm just thinking, you know, she probably should have killed him... he..." he trailed off, unable to find his words. "He was a coward. He shot her." he explained.

"Is she alright?" Darren asked. Of course he didn't know this girl, but the way Duke talked about her he kind of hoped she was.

"I don't know. The last I saw, her friends or family or something were loading her up in the back of a truck and taking her to a hospital." he said, looking distant.

"What of Falcone?" Darren asked.

"I told that slimy filth that if he ever showed his face here again, he'd be dead before he hit the floor." Duke said with a growl to his voice.

"Well, the stitches are in." Sharla announced, finding a good place to cut into his story.

"I think I can still kind of see out of this eye." he said, pointing with his finger.

"I can see there's some activity." Sharla agreed, "However, you have options you can look at." she drew out.

"What does it look like?" he asked, wondering if that was the reason she was holding back. She bit her lip before giving him a mirror. He had a huge cut going through his eye. His eyelid looked bizarre, and his eye... it still had it's brown color but looked as if it was collecting grey specs in it.

"Okay, so what are my options?" he asked.

"Well, it looks almost as if your eye is trying to decide whether to accept the fact that it's injured and go blind, or if it should try to still work, in non medical terms. Does that make sense?" she asked him. He nodded.

"So, we can put an eyepatch over it and allow it to go blind. I'm sure after probably even just a week, your eye would just accept the fact it doesn't work anymore." she explained.

"Or?" he asked.

"We have this new thing we've recently been studying, since the brotherhood does such a good job at getting their damn eyes poked at..." she shot him a stern look, "so we've done some research, used some ideas from the "real" medical community and, well, if you wanna try it we can. It'll still look like you're wearing an eyepatch, but it'll be more... robotic. You'll still be able to take the patch off and on when you're sleeping. That won't be an issue. But when you put the patch on, there will be a sort of... how do I put this simply... a micro robotic lens that when you put the patch on it will attach itself to your eye and you'll still be able to see out of your right eye."

"Okay?" he asked, expecting her to continue.

"So, we can program the patch to match your current vision. Should be pretty easy since you have 20/20 to begin with." she explained further. "When you put the patch on you'll need to keep your eye open. It'll be kind of like putting a contact lens on. Like, there will actually be a sort of contact lens on the inside of the patch you'll have to clean every night when you take it off. And once the lens attaches to your eye, the micro robot on the other side of the lens will sort of help enhance your vision in that eye to match the other eye and... your vision is basically kind of back in your right eye." she tried explaining the best she could.

"Okay, wouldn't be doing my job if I didn't ask what the risks were with this." he said, trailing off.

"You lose your eye sight in your right eye forever, which is basically where you are now anyways. You honestly have nothing to lose with this procedure. I mean, besides money but you're Duke L'Orange." she said simply.

"Yeah... yeah, okay. Let's do it." he nodding. "Until we can get the patch made, should I be doing anything to kind of try to make sure I don't lose my vision in this eye?" he asked, sitting up.

"Just don't irritate it. Probably best if you don't leave the base or go on any heists until we get you fitted with the robotic patch." she insisted.

"Uh huh. But if I did go out, even if only for a couple of hours." she sighed, knowing she wouldn't stop the active duck. She dug around in a drawer, finding a patch.

"Remember what I said, wearing this too long could cause your eye to shut down and go permanently blind." she said, handing it to him. "Go out, get your drink then get your ass back here." she assumed she knew the reason he was wanting out of the base, "And once you get back in the base, that patch comes off and you are confined to your room until I can get the robotic patch up and running. shouldn't be more than a day. Two days tops." she promised. He nodded. He let her think she knew the reason he was wanting to leave the base and took the patch, thanking her.

"Oh uh. What about my beak?" he asked.

"Nothing I can do about that. It's chipped. It's just gonna hurt for a few days and then just be a chipped beak." she explained.

"I was afraid of that." he muttered, "thanks anyways, sweetheart. See ya soon." he said, turning and walking out with Darren.

Darren shot a questioning look at Duke once they were out of the clinic.

"Are you really going out to get a drink?" he asked him, "cause I'll go with ya." he said. He could use a drink as well, but he was also kind of protective of Duke.

"Nah. Just in case I had to go somewhere within the next couple of days." he said, smiling. Darren thought Duke might be hiding something but he let it go.

"Duke?" A female voice distracted him and he turned around to see a curvy duck walking his way. She had white feathers and long blond hair, with blue eyes. She wore a button up shirt tied on the bottom to be a belly shirt with daisy duke short shorts.

"Hey Chastity." he said, smiling. She gasped, seeing his eye.

"Ooh, babe. what happened?" she asked, reaching up her hand. She didn't touch his eye, but more so hovered near it.

"It's nothin, sweetheart. Go on to the bunk. I'll be there in a sec." he said. She smiled and nodded before turning and leaving, Duke watching her the whole way. He looked back at Darren, who stood there with a disappointed look on his face.

"What?" Duke asked innocently.

"You can't keep doing this." he scolded.

"Doing what?" he asked, keeping his innocent demeanor.

"This. Yesterday it was Donna. Last week it was some Ursula chick." he raised his eyebrows, "How long is this going to go on?" he asked, "I mean, you'll need to settle down sometime."

"Do I?" Duke asked, "What life do we live, Darren? If I ever fell in love, she would never be able to live her life."

"IF she lived you, maybe she would make the changes for you." Darren insisted, suddenly fighting for his friend's love life.

"I wouldn't expect her to, and I wouldn't want her to." Duke shot back.

"Hey, do what you want. I'm just saying, one day you might actually fall in love." Darren muttered.

"Ha, good one Darren." Duke mock laughed. "The day that happens, I'll buy YOU a hooker." he laughed before walking off towards his room.

He opened the door to his room. It was practically dark, except for the dimmed bedside lamp.

Chastity was sitting on the bed. She stood up when she saw him.

"What was that about?" she asked, referring to why he had stayed to talk to Darren. She walked up to him and wrapped her arms around his neck, looking up at him.

"Nothing, sweetheart. Just work." he lied, dropping his arms to her waist before planting a kiss on her beak. It hurt on the chip, so he was keeping his kisses to where the chip wasn't. His hands pulled her body closer, into his own body as her arms wrapped tighter around his broad shoulders, their beaks remaining locked.

He picked her up and planted her hips on his, moving them towards the bed and falling gently on top of her. His hands fiddled around with the buttons on her shirt. Soon enough, the shirt was on the floor as he dove into her soft kisses again.

His hands trailed down her body, undoing the short shorts and sliding them off skillfully as she messed with the buttons on his suit. Soon, his chest was bare and she was fully undressed, laid out on his bed.

Before Duke could even think about going all the way, he stopped short.

"Babe, what's wrong?" she asked, sensing his hesitation. His mind wasn't on her. For some reason, it had wandered back to Anna. He shook his head.

"Nothing, sweetheart." he said before letting himself fall back into her embrace.


	7. Regrets and Connections

Anna felt the vehicle jerking. Her head was on something. It felt like a dufflebag but she couldn't tell for sure.

"Hang in there, Annie." she turned her head to the voice and could see Wing sitting in the passenger seat of what looked like the inside of their family truck. She reached for him and he took her hand. "Hang in there." he repeated and it was the last thing she heard before everything went black.

Next thing she knew, she was watching overhead lights flash over her. Looking up at the ducks around her, she recognized only two. Her brother who had probably gotten her to this point and her mother, dressed in her scrubs. Her hair was in a messy bun and she looked worried.

"Mama?" Anna asked, and Chloe looked down at her daughter for a moment. She grabbed Anna's hand as they rounded a corner. Then as soon as she had come to, she blacked out again.

* * *

Canard and Chloe stopped just outside the doors as the rest of the medical staff rushed Anna through the doors to an operating room.

"Alright, Canard. Spill. What happened?" Chloe demanded.

"Come on, mama." he muttered, taking her hands and leading her to the break room. It was employee only but obviously, the nurses and doctors would let their family in on occasion.

He sat her down in a chair and kneeled in front of her.

"I went to the theater." he said.

"Canard-"

"I know, mama. Hear me out. I wasn't planning on hurting the kid. I just kinda wanted to give them a scare and surprise Annie at the same time."

"So why does my daughter have a bullet wound in her shoulder?" Chloe demanded.

"Ma, calm down. I'm getting there. When I pulled up to the parking lot it was chaotic. Anna had a sabre and was pointing it at a raptrin. Her boyfriend and some other guy were on the ground. The other guy had been hurt somehow." Canard muttered.

"My daughter was pointing a sabre at somebody?" Chloe was shocked and it seemed to be all she heard.

"Look ma, I got out of the truck and tried to calm her down, but before I could say more than just her name she told me that..." he trailed off, and sighed heavily. It looked like he might cry and Chloe rested a hand on her eldest's shoulder.

"What is it, sweetie?" she asked.

"She said that it was the guy who killed dad." he said and Chloe looked shocked.

"I have no proof, ma. But obviously Anna did. I'd never seen her so angry or determined. I honestly thought she might kill him." he muttered.

"She didn't though, right?" Chloe asked, knowing how determined her daughter could be.

"No. She just kicked his ass and left him on the ground. We... we shouldn't have left him there. We should have tied him up or something." Canard muttered.

"Is he the one that shot my baby girl?" she asked. Canard nodded.

"We let our guard down. Everyone in the group was going on about how Anna had just sword fought in a parking lot. The only one of us who seemed to notice the raptrin doing anything was the injured duck. He ran over, jumping on him but... When I looked back to Anna she... she had this pained expression on her face and she instantly grabbed her shoulder. I saw her going down so I caught her and lowered her down. The rest I guess you can figure out. We rushed her over here asap." Canard said.

"What about the injured duck. He didn't come with you?" Chloe asked. Canard shook his head.

"No. He was very mysterious. Wouldn't give me a name and just stood in the parking lot as we left. Said he'd take care of the trash, whatever that means..." he trailed off and then corrected himself, "I mean, I know it meant he was going to deal with the raptrin but... I don't know how he was going to do it. And I didn't ask."

* * *

Falcone was running down an alley.

"I can't believe how easy I got let off." he muttered to himself, ducking around. Suddenly, he heard sirens and cop cars blocked both entrances to the alleyway. "Of course. I should have know." he shook his head, knowing Duke had turned him in.

* * *

"I tried thanking him." Canard told his mom. "He landed on the raptrin's arm just as the shot rang out. I know Anna still got hit but what if the guy had a kill shot lined up, you know?" he said. Chloe nodded.

"I wish I could thank him too. Maybe I still can. If his injuries are bad enough, he might come through here." Chloe muttered before standing back up. "Come on, let's go see what's going on with your sister.

* * *

Duke was laying in bed. He'd only been back for probably about an hour. He glanced over. Chastity huddled under the covers, her breathing signifying she was fast asleep. His arms were resting behind his head. He shook his head, trying to process what was keeping him up. It was that Anna chick. He didn't know why. He didn't even know her, but deep down he had to know she was alright.

"Fuck." he sighed, sitting up in bed. He pulled on a pair of sweats and a white tank top.

He went over to the desk in his room, strapping the eyepatch on carefully before grabbing his sabre and overcoat and leaving his room.

* * *

"How is she?" Trent was the first one to stand up when Canard walked back into the waiting room. Wildwing followed suit.

"Well?" he pushed.

"She's fine. Doc said she'll make a full recovery. He said it looks much worse than it is." he said, a smile coming across his beak. Wildwing and Trent smiled and Wildwing hugged his best friend.

Canard pulled out of the hug, eyeing Trent.

"You and me, young man. I think we need to have a little talk."

* * *

Duke walked into the hospital, going up to the front desk.

"Hi uh. I'm here to see Anna?" he said with a question.

"I'm sorry we're not taking visitors right now."

"Well, what room is she in so I can see her tomorrow?" he bugged. The head nurse looked annoyed.

"I'm not at liberty to disclose that information." she said.

"Look..." Duke said, putting his hands on the table. "that girl saved my life. I am needing to thank her eventually, ain't I? Now tell me what room she's in!" he growled.

"Sorry, I can't do that." she said, smiling. "But do have a nice day, sir."

Duke stood up straight, straightening out his jacket.

"You too, ma'am." he muttered, walking out. Once outside, he stopped by a wall and pulled the crumpled piece of paper out of his coat...

"Let's see, Anna... Anna..." he muttered to himself, trailing down the list. "Thunderbeak, Anna! That's the one." he said to himself, remembering what she growled at Falcone.

 _"his name was Pochard Thunderbeak!"_

He saw that her room number was 314. He looked up the side of the building and counted on the outside and just hoped he was right in guessing she was the fourteenth room on the 3rd floor.

He grappled up and found himself perched on the outside of the window for what he assumed to be room 314. He climbed through. The room was dark, as it should be this time of night.

"Anna?" he said in the darkness. The body in the bed stirred a bit.

"Anna?" he asked again.

"Who the fuck?" Duke was taken aback by a male voice and the bedside lamp came on. A duck sat there, a leg in a cast. His arms were crossed and he did not look happy.

"Sorry. Sorry, sir. I thought this was my friend's room." he tried, backing out guiltily. As he backed out, he ran into someone. It was a nurse and he just hoped she wasn't anything like the woman he had dealt with not too long ago.

"Uh, hi." she said, flipping some stray hairs back out of her face. Her hair was up in a bun, but it looked like she might have had a hell of a night working in the ER.

"Sorry, miss." he said, remembering his manners. "I'm just looking for a friend. I know it's past visiting hours but I just had to make sure she was ok." he explained quickly.

"What room is your friend in?" she asked, and he sighed with relief, seeing this nice nurse was going to help him.

"314." he said, and her eyes went wide at this. She cocked her head at him, and a loving smile suddenly came across her face.

"This way." she said, leading him down the hall. He was confused by her reaction but followed her anyway. She stopped just outside the door, pointing inside.

"She's just in here. It's a private room." the nurse informed. Duke thanked her before walking in.

Anna was laying in the bed with a sling around her neck, holding her right arm up. She looked to be asleep, but Duke didn't care as he took a seat in the chair next to the bed.

He took her good hand in his and sighed.

"Oh Anna. I'm so sorry." he muttered.

"For what?" he was surprised to hear the weak voice and looked up at her.

"I didn't get to Falcone in time." he muttered.

"Oh please, I'm fine. Really." she promised.

"Anna, I put you in the hospital." he argued.

"What, because my shoulder got grazed? Duke..." she trailed off, "I'd much rather be in here with a sling and a few pain killers than downstairs in a morgue." she argued back.

He sighed, shaking his head.

"Kid, I know what you're saying makes sense. But it doesn't take away from the fact I didn't get to him in time." he said, the guilt still bothering him.

"Duke. I'm alive. And well. Besides, now I'm going to have a cool scar to spark conversation." she smiled at him. "Kind of like you now." she muttered, looking down.

"Oh, yeah. Guess I had some fun on the other end of Falcone's blade." Duke muttered, rubbing his beak gently where the chip was. Anna reached over, touching it gently as well.

"Does it hurt?" she asked.

"Nah. Not so much anymore. Just feels funny when you touch it. My eye hurts way worse." he commented.

"Can I see?" she asked. He looked taken aback and she suddenly jerked her hand back, "sorry. That was rude. I mean, obviously you're wearing the patch because you don't want it to be seen." she said.

"No, I'm wearing the patch cause my doctor told me to wear it when I went outside." he said, smiling. He gently removed the patch, wincing as the material pulled away from his eye.

"Oh my god. Duke, I am so sorry." she said, seeing the scar going across it. She reached up, rubbing her hand against the right side of his face. He placed his hand over that hand and closed his eyes against her touch.

"What you sorry for, sweetheart?" he asked, meeting her eyes.

"I didn't warn you in time. I knew... I mean, I could sense-"

"Hey, sweetheart. I could sense it too. If anything, this is my fault. Years of training and I didn't see that coming? Rookie mistake." he explained.

"Years of training?" she asked suddenly, dropping her hand. He looked back at her.

"Uh, yeah. It's nothing, sweetheart." he cleared his throat, standing up.

"I just came over to make sure you were alright." he said. "Now, I think you need to get some shut eye." he said, putting his hand against her cheek. He let it linger for a minute before walking away.

"Night sweetheart." he said as he walked out.

He entered the hallway and just stopped for a minute. Why'd he even come? He almost risked letting it slip he was part of the brotherhood. He shook his head.

"Good, I caught you!" he was shocked by the nurse from before. For a minute he thought maybe a cop was on this floor. He sighed with relief.

"Uh, yeah. I was just leaving. Thanks for helping me find my friend." he muttered, turning away.

"Wait." she said, stopping him in his tracks.

"I just, I wanted to thank you." she said. He raised an eyebrow.

"For what?" he asked.

"I heard from my eldest that you saved my daughter tonight..." she trailed off and he instantly made the connection.

"Anna's your daughter." he said knowingly.

"yes." she confirmed. "And I couldn't let you leave without thanking you. Canard said you wouldn't give him a name?" she questioned.

"Nobody needs to know my name." Duke muttered, glancing down.

She looked expectantly at him and he sighed.

"It doesn't matter." he tried again. She shook her head.

"Well, stranger, maybe in time we can all get to know each other and be friends. I feel indebted to you and would love to treat you to a home cooked meal sometime." she said, handing him a piece of paper.

 _475-555-2167_

 _2546 Ducaine Blvd._

"I'm not going to force you to do it." she said, once he read over the piece of paper. "Just call the number on the paper if ever you're feeling lonely or hungry and we'll be happy to have you for dinner sometime." she promised.

"Thanks Ma'am. I really do appreciate this. I can't promise with my busy schedule and all it will happen anytime soon..." he didn't want to straight up turn her down. He hoped it could turn into a _we should hang out_ that never happens. Not that he didn't like Anna or her mother. He didn't know which one was her brother, although he kind of figured it was the one that had tied the towel around her shoulder.

"I don't expect it to. You don't have to at all. You could walk out of this hospital and never see any of us again. It would be pretty easy considering you just met us. I'm just giving you the option to become friends with my family someday." she said.

"Well thank you, ma'am. I do appreciate it." he said, waving the paper. "I'll hold onto this." he promised. She nodded.

"You're a good man. I'm glad you were there for my daughter tonight." Chloe said. With that, Duke took his leave.

Chloe turned back around, walking into Anna's room.

"I heard some of that." Anna muttered, her eyes closed.

"Yeah, and I heard you two." Chloe said. "Barely." she added with a mutter.

"He's so... mysterious." Chloe finally said.

"Yeah. I don't know. There's something about him." Anna said thoughtfully.

"Like what?" Chloe asked with a smile.

"I can't put my finger on it. He's... he's so mysterious. I mean, he acts like he's a criminal or something. But I've only seen him do good." Anna said, "I mean, a person willing to risk getting in the line of fire to save someone can't be all bad." Anna said before yawning.

"Yeah, well, we don't know his story." Chloe said, "but from what I've seen, he is a very decent drake."

"Anyways, sweetie. I have charting to do and you need to get some sleep. Love you." she said, stepping forward and kissing her daughter's head.

"Love you too, mama." she said, settling back into her pillows.


	8. Duke's Insurance

Anna was still stuck in the sling on the last day of school. That was all anybody wanted to talk about and Anna was extra thankful it was the last day of school before winter break. She hated the attention and was glad when the day was finally over.

Walking out of the school with Nosedive, Jake and Jess they all headed for Jess's car.

"Anna, wait up!" Anna stopped, turning to see Trent. Nosedive turned, rolling his eyes.

"We'll wait for you in the car." he muttered, turning around practically pushing Jake and Jess for the car.

"Hey Trent." she said, brushing a loose strand of hair out of her face.

"Hey. Listen, sorry about the date-"

"It's fine." she cut in, rocking on her heel. "I had a great time up until then." she said, smiling.

* * *

"What do you think they're talking about?" Jake asked from where he sat in the passenger seat. Nosedive had been leaning forward, watching them as well before sitting back groaning.

"Who cares." he muttered.

"Dive. When are you going to stop being so jealous over Anna?" Jake muttered.

"What, me? Jealous of Anna? Puh-lease. I ain't jealous of Annie!" Dive defended.

"No, You're jealous of Trent." Jake shot back at him, and Dive went silent. Jessica adjusted her rearview mirror to look at Dive.

"You like Anna?" she asked, meeting his eyes.

He sighed, looking away again.

"I just, I thought I'd always be the one there for her. I wish it were me she was out there talking with right now. I mean, if she had been with me that night, none of that would have happened. She wouldn't have even had time for a sword fight cause I would have been like "nu huh, girl! Getcha butt in the car, stat!" he said, snapping his fingers a bit. Jess and Jake giggled a little and Dive relaxed. Talk of his feelings had been avoided yet again.

* * *

"Anyways, I better head off. Can't have them waiting for me." she said, starting to walk away.

"Hey wait, I was wondering if maybe you'd like to, I don't know, hang out sometime during the break? We could go for a skate or something?" he tried.

She looked back at the car before looking back at him.

"You know, I'd love to but we've got the annual Thunderbeak Christmas Party coming up and I don't know when I'm going to have time." she tried.

"Oh well, I wouldn't mind coming to that!" he offered. She grinned slightly before nodding.

"Okay. I think we're starting at 7. On the 23rd." she said.

"Great, I'll see ya then!" he said happily before turning around and heading off on his way. She sighed out, rolling her eyes and heading for Jess's car.

"Thanks for waiting. Sorry about that." she apologized, sliding into the backseat next to Dive.

"It was fine." Jess insisted and with that, they were on their way out of the school parking lot.

* * *

 _A few days later_

Duke found himself out for walks more often lately. Especially ever since he got fitted with the eyepatch. His doctor had given him the clearance to go out and about again, plus it was nice to be able to have some vision back in his right eye again. He had to admit, it actually looked pretty cool wearing an eyepatch with some sort of a robotic eye inside. It just looked like a red dot on the outside. Very discreet.

He shuddered a little, pulling his trench coat around him better, shoving his hands into his pocket. As he walked he felt a familiarity with the block he was on. He'd been walking it ever since he had seen Anna in the hospital. On the other side of the street, he saw the house he had become familiar with. On the side of the house was the number 2546. He sighed out. He felt a presence and figured a civilian was out walking somewhere.

"You know, this is borderline stalking." he turned to see his best friend, Darren, come to stand beside him.

"Nah. I got the address from someone who lives here." Duke tried, holding up the piece of paper he had pulled from his pocket. The piece of paper had been crumpled up in his pocket ever since, but it wasn't like he needed it anymore honestly.

"Yeah. You were given the address to be able to find the place when you were invited over. Were you invited over, Duke?" Darren asked. Duke sighed out, shaking his head.

"So, what are you doing here?" Darren asked.

"I was just out for a walk, Darren. That's all." Duke sighed, turning and walking away. Darren glanced back at the house before quickly following after Duke.

"Why are you constantly walking by the house?" Darren asked as they made their way back.

"I don't know, checking up on them I guess." Duke muttered.

"Why?" Darren asked, "it's not like you owe 'em anything." Darren shrugged. Duke stopped, turning on his best friend.

"That girl..." he pointed behind Darren to the house, "I owe that girl my life!" Duke growled, turning around and walking down the sidewalk again.

"But Duke, it was just Falcone." Darren tried again. He just wasn't getting it, and Duke felt his blood boiling.

"Yeah, well, JUST Falcone did this!" he explained, pointing dramatically to his eye. He let the silence circulate for a moment before sighing.

"I don't know, maybe you've got a point." he admitted. He remained looking forward, never meeting Darren's gaze. They came to a stop light and Duke pressed the button and turned back to Darren. "maybe she is the reason he turned on me that night. I mean, the only reason he even admitted to having any beef with me to begin with was because he decided to confess to BOTH murders." Duke explained. The light turned green and they began to cross the street.

"But think of it this way." Duke continued, "if she hadn't have been there, or if she had just got into the truck and left like I had told her to, I would have brought Falcone back with me and eventually, he mighta, ya know, took care of me some other way..." he trailed off, dragging his point out for Darren. "Probably in my sleep or something the way that sleeze bucket works." he added with a mutter.

"You know, I hadn't really thought about that." Darren admitted, shovking his hands deeper into his pockets as a winter chill ran up his feathers.

"Yeah, well, for some reason I can't STOP thinking about it." Duke sighed out. "and now I just feel this need to go on walks and just add her street to my walk just so I can kind of check up on her and her family, and make sure they're doing alright."

"Duke, you know you don't need to and I'm sure she doesn't expect you to." Darren tried. He wrapped an arm around Duke's shoulder, "Now, come on." his tone changed to a more cheerful one, "I think Aiden and Mia went to Frank's. We can meet 'em there, grab a drink or two, and shoot some pool!"

* * *

 _author's note: so I have recently started school, so if there are not as many updates from here on out, this is why... also, I'm replacing chapters 1-4... I just changed some minor details... you can reread if you want, or just continue on like normal. I think mainly I just changed Anna's genetics. I made it so Chloe donated some DNA so Anna is by blood a Thunderbeak, which also changed her appearance... she has light brown feathers now with dark brown hair. Like I said, just minor things that won't really affect the story but later down the road, you might notice I write her appearance differently. So, as of February 2nd, those chapters are up, and if you're reading this after February 2nd, you don't have to worry about it._

 _Alright, thanks for listening. R &R and I'll try to keep up regular updates with this. _


	9. Thunderbeak Christmas Party

It was a sunny day out and the group of four consisting of Wildwing, Canard, Anna, and Nosedive, were outside playing some hockey. They had called Jess and Jake to see if they could make it three on three, but they had prior obligations.

So, it was the younger siblings vs. the older siblings. Hardly fair, but pretty fun.

When it was just two on two, they hardly ever used a goalie. At the moment, Anna was on the breakaway, heading for Wildwing who, upon seeing her speeding his way, took his position in the goal. Canard came up on her left. Then, Nosedive was suddenly on her right. Before she knew it, Dive swiped the puck from her and smacked it as hard as he could. Wildwing, though just barely, was able to block it.

"Are you fucking serious!" Anna growled.

"What? I saw Canard on your other side and thought I'd, you know, come to your rescue." Nosedive defended.

"My rescue? Did I even indicate that I was going to pass it to you?" she inquired. He shrugged.

"Well, no. But you should have." he said innocently.

"Nosedive Adavan Flashblade!" he cringed at his middle name and rued the day she learned it, "this is the third time just this month that you've decided that I couldn't handle myself and you stole the puck from me." she called him out.

"Sorry, Annie..." he started, "maybe next time you should just pass it to me." he suggested innocently.

"Ooh, that wasn't a good answer..." Wildwing muttered.

Canard saw Anna's blood boiling and stepped between the two teenagers, mostly for Dive's sake.

"Okay, okay. Let's move on! Annie, go cool down." Canard commanded, playing referee.

"I'm fine, Can." she growled.

"You're not. You need to take a second." he pleaded.

"Fine." she muttered, skating to a nearby rock that stuck out of the ice. She sat on it with a huff, glaring over at Nosedive.

"Alright... Hey, Wildwing?" Canard turned his attention to his best friend. Wildwing looked in his direction, letting him know he had his attention, "You wanna work on goaltending?" Wildwing nodded, happy to get his mind off the argument his brother probably would have died in had Canard not stepped in.

"So, you talked to Trent?" Wildwing asked, peeking Anna's interest as she watched the boys practice. Canard, still slapping pucks at Wing, nodded.

"Yeah, I talked to him." Canard muttered.

"About what?" Anna asked from where she sat.

Canard sighed out irritably. He loved Wildwing like a brother but sometimes, he just wanted to hurt him. It showed in the next puck he dropped. He shot it really hard and Wildwing had to reach out to stop it. It hit the glove and Wildwing felt the vibration in his glove. He shook his hand but was soon bombarded with another puck, this one not going as fast.

"We just talked." Canard muttered.

"I wanna know what you guys talked about!" Nosedive tried, skating by Canard.

"Just drop it, Nosedive!" Canard growled at the teenager, and Nosedive lowered his head as he passed by Wildwing. He just couldn't win with either Thunderbeak today. Then a thought popped into his head.

"Hey, you know Jess told me about this cool thing she learned in Fargeson's class the other day." Dive said, trying to switch the subject and maybe warm back up to both Thunderbeaks in one go.

"Wait, isn't she a senior?" Wildwing asked as he blocked a puck that nearly flew past his head.

"Oh no, this is about the time of year he does his annual "Drake Ducaine: Fact or Fiction" unit." Canard added, slapping another puck at Wildwing. Nosedive passed by Canard again in his circle he had formed around the two older drakes.

"Yup!" Nosedive confirmed, "Drake Ducaine. He totally ruled, Canard. The saurian overlords had conquered everything." before the ducks knew it, Dive was spilling a short history lesson Jess had obviously informed him of. "I mean, it was game over for the whole universe, man. And nobody could find them, cause they had like these evil magic powers. Drake Ducaine invents this crazy mask," Canard stopped shooting as Dive skated by Wildwing, pulling off his mask for effect, "a goalie mask that can see through their invisible shields!" Dive put the mask on, pretending he was Drake Ducaine. "So, he hunts down the evil saurians with the mask, right? He kicks their scaly tails clear into another dimension, and the crowd goes wild!" Nosedive did a cheer, raising his arms above his head. As he did, though, he lost his footing, smashing down against the ice.

Canard and Wildwing skated over, as did Anna.

"Man, Wildwing, I couldn't get a single puck past ya." Canard admitted.

"You want a real hero, Nosedive? Well check out Canard. He's the best student in school, and nobody beats him on the ice!" Wildwing praised, "he's a real team captain. Besides, I've heard all the stories about Drake Ducaine, Dive. They're just legends." Wildwing said, shaking it off.

"Legends?" Nosedive stood up, brushing himself off from the fall, "wake up and smell yourself, man! You're talking about the greatest duck who ever quacked. Flat out!" Dive argued.

"Relax, baby bro. The saurian empire vanished centuries ago." Wildwing wrapped his arm around Dive's shoulders as all four ducks skated off the ice, heading towards the Thunderbeak household.

* * *

The Flashblade brothers found themselves recruited to help with food prep for the annual Thunderbeak Christmas Party. Everything was basically already set up, so it was a breeze with so many people working on prep.

Before long, the house was packed with ducks. The night started with dinner before everyone broke away to do different things. Mainly playing boardgames or watching movies.

Jessica, Jake and Trent had showed up along with Canard's friends from the army; Henry, Roger, Kim and Tim. Three were siblings, Roger being the eldest while Kim and Tim were twins. Henry had been Canard's best friend from the very beginning. Henry had a sister, and Canard had told her to invite her, but she had said no, working on some big project. She'd always lock away in her lab for days at a time when she had a good project going.

Trent was practically glued to Anna's hip the entire time. If she went into the kitchen to play boardgames, he was right beside her. If it was a game involving teams, he instantly grabbed her, making them a team. If she went to the living room to see which movie was playing, he followed her like a puppy. Right now, they were sitting on the couch. As they sat there, Anna couldn't focus on the movie. She kept thinking how annoyed she was with Trent. Would she never have a second alone ever again?

Finally, she stood up from the couch. He went to stand to, but she held out her hand.

"No, no. Stay sat down. I'm just going outside for some air." she reassured.

"I can come with you." he tried. She shook her head.

"It's fine. I just need some room to breath."

he stayed sitting and she wasn't sure exactly how he'd taken it. At this point, she could care less. She just had to get away. She slipped outside and in her hurry, forgot her jacket. She didn't dare go back in for fear of someone seeing her and wanting to join her outside.

She walked out to the sidewalk, sitting on a bus bench. The buses didn't run this late, so she had no worry of being mistaken for a passenger. She leaned back against the metal, shivering against the cold. She closed her eyes, allowing her to forget for the moment she was outside. She kept thinking about Trent. She liked him, but she couldn't take the clinginess. He hadn't given her a second to herself. She knew she shouldn't feel this way. She should feel lucky to have him in her life. But tonight, he had just been suffocating. A breeze blew by and she shivered against the cold.

"Little cold to be out without a coat." she recognized the voice and smiled as she glanced up at the grey drake that had come walking up.

"Duke? What are you doing here?' she asked, surprised at the stutter the cold had created. Curse her shivering. Duke heard the cold in her voice and pulled off his trench coat, draping it around her shoulders. "Thanks." she murmured, pulling the coat around her.

He sat down beside her, draping his arm across the back of the bench naturally. She felt herself lean into him and she wasn't sure why. Probably because he was warm.

"What you doing out here, sweetheart?" he asked, completely avoiding her question. "Looks like the party and all your friends and family are in there." he mused. She shrugged. "Claustrophobic?" he asked. She shook her head.

"No. Well, yes, kind of. I don't know." she tried.

"Wanna talk about it?" he asked.

"I guess it's Trent." she said, feeling herself start to blurt it out. She felt the need to vent to somebody, and Duke seemed to genuinely care about what she had to say.

"Who?' he asked. He could guess, but he didn't want to just assume it was the guy she was with the night of the "almost" robbery.

"Oh, Trent. He's the guy I was with, you know, that night." she briefed. She didn't know why she didn't introduce Trent as her boyfriend. He was her boyfriend, wasn't he?

Duke nodded, showing she could continue.

"Well, ever since that night he's been... I don't know, really clingy." she explained.

"I'm not surprised." Duke murmured. She gave him a funny look.

"I mean, after traumatic experiences, people tend to appreciate things more than before. I mean, the guy watched you get shot." Duke explained. She nodded.

"Well, anyways, he sort of invited himself to this party and ever since he's got here, I haven't hardly had a moment to myself. I mean, he almost followed me into the bathroom!" she exclaimed. He raised an eyebrow.

"As if Falcone would be waiting for you in the tub or something. "Duke chuckled.

"Exactly!" she let out a small laugh too before she found herself leaning into him naturally. She waited to see if he would shift away but he didn't and instead moved his arm so it was more around her shoulders than just draped across the bench.

"Look, sweetheart," he started, rubbing her shoulder, "I'm not Trent and I'm not you but, it seems to me you might need to just give him time. Like I said, traumatic experiences change people, but that doesn't necessarily mean in a bad way." he explained. "Maybe before you jump to any conclusions or make a decision you might regret, you might just try talking to him. Tell him how his clinginess is making you feel and see if there's a way you two can resolve the problem."

she nodded against his chest, sighing out.

"That's a pretty good idea." she admitted.

Duke heard uncertainty in her voice and tilted her chin up to look up at him.

"You don't sound sure." he probed. She just gazed up at him and her eyes seemed to sparkle to him. They were so different, and he realized he hadn't actually had time before to actually study them. They were emerald green but almost looked to have a bit of blue in them.

"Hey, kiddo?" Canard's voice was heard followed by the door to the house closing. Almost instantly, Duke and Anna simultaneously scooted apart.

Canard walked up, holding something.

"Trent said you came outside, but I saw your jacket hang-" Canard cut himself off upon seeing Duke, sitting beside her.

"Uh, hello again." Canard said, raising an eyebrow.

"Oh, my coat. Thank you." Anna finally said, removing Duke's coat and handing it back to him. She stood up, putting on her coat and then hugged her brother.

"Thanks, Can." she was trying to keep things from getting awkward. She knew Duke better than the rest of her family, and that was saying something considering she hardly knew anything about him herself.

"Well, I better head for home." Duke finally said, standing up. Anna didn't want to see him leave but didn't know how to invite him to a party where he hardly knew anyone.

"Why don't you come in for a bit." Canard offered. Anna whipped her head around in shock. Duke also looked surprised but finally shook his head.

"Nah, I should be getting home. Thanks though." he said before turning away.

"Wait, Duke." Anna felt herself speak before her brain could even register what she was doing. He stopped in his tracks, turning back to look at her. Their eyes met and she practically froze. Canard sensed her hesitation.

"Just a quick beer. Than I swear, if you're not having any fun, I'll let you leave." Canard finally said. Anna turned, thanking him with her eyes. Duke sighed out.

"Alright, but ONE beer." Duke repeated, almost sternly. Canard nodded, smiling.

With that, the ducks retreated back inside to the party.


	10. Fights and Denial

The three ducks walked into the house, and everyone almost simultaneously stopped what they were doing, turning to look at them. Anna sensed everyone's curiosity along with Duke's hesitation.

"Um, everybody. This is Duke." she introduced. Everyone was still quiet. Canard cleared his throat.

"Duke is the one that saved Anna." the kitchen and living room burst into cheers. Chloe came up, finding a moment to hug Duke.

"I'm so glad you could make it. Thanks again for saving my little girl." she said. She didn't seem at all surprised that he had showed up without an invitation.

"hey, if anything, she saved me." Duke tried, not wanting to take all the credit for that night.

Trent walked up at that point, wrapping his arm around Anna and glancing uncaring at Duke. It made Duke wonder if he had maybe seen him and Anna outside. He had nothing to worry about. All they had done was talk."

"Hey, babe. You wanna go play mad gab?" he asked. She glanced over at Duke.

"Sure. Have you every played, Duke?" she asked him.

Inside, Duke was screaming at her. _Don't do that! Don't give me attention! Give him attention!_ Of course, on the outside, he just shook his head no.

"Can't say I have." he admitted. He wasn't used to playing board games, watching movies or any other thing considered a "normal pastime" by society.

"Come on, honey. Let's teach him how to play." she said, grabbing Trent's hand.

 _Good, call him honey. make it about him. Cause it's definitely not about me._ Duke thought to himself as he followed. Trent glanced back at him, though, as they entered the kitchen and he noticed the drake was still glaring. He had to do something to make sure Trent saw that he and Anna were just friends. He had to find a way to make sure that Trent knew that Anna was still his girl. And it was going to stay that way.

As they entered the kitchen, Trent put himself and Anna on a team. Three more ducks were sitting around the table when they got there. Nosedive, Jess and some duck named Nikki. Anna wasn't sure, but thought maybe she'd come with the military brigade.

"Alright, you guys wanna play madgab?" Anna asked.

"Sure." Nikki said, and Anna noticed her looking Duke up and down.

Nosedive and Jess both confirmed they were in as well.

"Alright, so Trent, Duke and I against you three?" Anna tried.

"What?" Trent asked.

"Nah, sweetheart. I gotta get to know people, don't I?" Duke tried. He sat on the side Nosedive was on.

"I'll join your team, girly girl!" Nosedive said, getting up.

"Oh no. We don't function well on the same team, Dive." Anna shot at him. Clearly she was still upset about the hockey game. He sat back down.

"Jess?" Anna asked.

"Yeah, sure." Jess said, smiling while standing up and moving to their side of the table.

"So, where's that beer your brother promised?" Duke asked, leaning back in his chair. Nikki was practically staring, and it made him uncomfortable.

"I'll get you one." she offered, standing up.

She brought Duke back a beer while bringing herself back a glass with something pink in it.

"What's that?" he asked.

"Malibu with Orange/strawberry." she said simply, taking a sip.

"Hey kids?" Chloe popped her head in, "I'm heading off to bed. I think mostly everybody's heading out. Some are still hanging out in the living room." Chloe explained.

"Alright, mama." Anna confirmed she'd heard her mother. Chloe smiled.

"Love you sweetie."

"Love you too, ma." she said, turning back to the cards as her mother walked upstairs.

"Now, to teach Duke how to play this game...

* * *

Anna felt irritation flood over her body and was happy once the game was over. Nikki and Duke had been all over each other during the whole game, and she found herself sitting in Trent's lap by the end, hugging on him and kissing him whenever they got a point. Trent, a few beers in, didn't know exactly why Anna had suddenly warmed up to him since she'd been giving him a cold shoulder all night, but he was enjoying the attention.

The game ended, and Dive stood up.

"Alright, who wants to get hammered?" he asked with a cocked eyebrow.

"Me! Right here!" Anna said, pointing to herself.

"Me too." Trent said, a slur to his voice already.

"I think you've probably had enough." Duke said to Trent.

"What, you trying to take my booze away, too?" Trent muttered, shoving Anna off his lap and standing up. He headed over to the fridge and pulled out another beer, chugging it.

"Fine, do what you want." Duke muttered. Dive shrugged, going over to a paper bag that had been sitting on the counter all night.

"What's in there, Divey?" Anna asked. She really didn't want to talk to Trent if she didn't have to. He was already drunk and she didn't like it when he got that way.

Dive smirked, pulling out bottles of liquor.

"Let's see, Vodka, Captain Morgan, Malibu, and Black Velvet. OOh, and some hard lemonade. This is the best stuff!" Dive tried, opening up a bottle and taking a drink. Anna shrugged. she grabbed the Captain Morgan and a couple of shot glasses from the cupboard.

She took a shot, and shuddered as the alcohol entered her system. She poured another shot in her glass and then filled up the other glass, sliding it towards Dive. Duke kept an eye on her, Nikki still sitting in his lap. Jess just sat there.

"Great, I'm surrounded by alcoholics." she muttered, spinning a quarter around on the table.

"You don't drink?" Duke asked.

"Nah. Cause eventually, you turn into that." she muttered, pointing at Trent. Trent was sitting in the chair he and Anna had been sitting in before. He looked a little out of it and Duke was slightly worried.

"You alright, kid?" he asked Trent.

"Don't call me kid!" came the hostel response. Duke cringed back.

"He's alright." Jess muttered, getting up and going to fridge. She grabbed out some cranberry juice and poured that into a glass. As she passed by the alcohol, she discreetly grabbed the bottle of Vodka and put barely half a shot in her glass.

"You don't drink, huh?" Duke asked.

"Sometimes, you need just a tiny buzz to be able to stand all the drunks surrounding you." Jessica said, taking a sip of her juice. "Besides, unlike some of these kiddos, I can handle my alcohol." Jess bragged.

Duke shook his head, glancing back up at Dive and Anna. They were both giggling like idiots and Duke realized he had planned on counting her shots so he could tell when she oughta stop and so he could take care of her. He'd gotten distracted.

Anna leaned into Dive and he wrapped his arm around her waist, pulling her into his body.

"Huh, looks like someone likes Anna." Duke murmured to Jess. Nikki, barely conscious, was still sitting on Duke's lap. She glanced up at his voice, looking at Dive and Anna.

"Jeez, get a room you two!" she said, giggling. Dive and Anna turned around, shock written across their faces. They had apparently forgotten anyone else was there. Duke saw Anna's eyes and could tell she was already fairly buzzed, if not almost drunk already. She probably had no control over her actions. Trent heard Nikki and glanced up to Dive and Anna.

"What the hell?" he asked, standing up. Duke sensed confrontation and stood up, letting Nikki slide into the chair by herself. Jess rolled her eyes.

"And this is why I avoid when possible." she muttered, taking her glass and walking into the other room.

Trent walked right up to Nosedive, getting in his face.

"What you think you're doing, huh?" Trent demanded, "First thief boy, and now you? You of all ducks, Dive? I thought we were friends!" Trent growled.

"We are friends!" Dive tried.

"Then why you moving in on my girl!" Trent demanded.

"I'm not. We're just taking shots." Dive said innocently.

"Yeah right. I've seen the way you look at her." Trent said.

"Trent, knock it off." Anna growled.

"Fine, you know what Trent? You don't deserve her!" the alcohol gave Dive new confidence and Anna gave Dive a hard look.

"What you mean, man?" Trent asked.

"You heard me, Trent! She's fun, and clever, and smart. She can take care of herself and you treat her like she's the most fragile thing on the face of this planet." Dive challenged.

"Because that's what boyfriends do. They protect their girlfriends. But I guess you wouldn't know that, would you." Trent mocked. Nosedive let out a growl, grabbing Trent low and slamming him into the counter behind him. Trent shoved Dive off, throwing a right hook. Dive flew back and Duke caught him. Trent ran forward, his arm back but it was suddenly grabbed by Canard.

"Alright, break it up you two!" Canard growled. Anna had sat down in the corner, knees to her chest as she had watched the two drakes attack each other.

Canard threw Trent down on the ground, then turned to Nosedive.

"You're better than this, Dive. He might not be, I don't know him. But I know you!" Canard growled at him.

Dive jerked out of Duke's arms.

"I know, I'm sorry Can. I just got mad." he explained. Canard sighed.

"I know you haven't had the best day, Dive. But drinking isn't going to fix a bad day, especially if it makes you get in a fight." Canard explained. Dive nodded.

"Listen, Canard, I'm a little tired..."

"As well you should be. The couch on the left is open. Your brother's in the recliner. He's still awake if you wanna talk to him." Canard offered. Dive nodded, walking out of the kitchen.

"Annie?" Canard asked, walking over to the corner. Duke looked over and followed Canard as he pulled his sister up from her spot. "You alright, Ann?" Canard asked, pulling her into a hug. She nodded against his chest, happy to be in her brother's embrace.

"She alright?" Duke asked, Canard looked over at him, nodding.

"Yeah, she's alright." he confirmed. "Come on, sis. Let's get you into bed." he said, picking her up bridal style. He stepped over Trent, who was still laying on the floor. He had tried to get up once but was too drunk and just stayed on the floor. Duke wanted to follow so he could talk to Anna, but stopped, instead glancing down at Trent.

He squatted down, looking at Trent.

"What do you want?" Trent muttered.

"Now, listen to me Trent. I don't know you very well, but I've decided I don't like you when you're drunk. But, I'm gonna give you some advice. You've got a good girl there. She's loyal to you, Trent, and you've got nothing to worry about. But you know what'll drive her away?" he paused, letting the drunk shake his head, "you getting jealous everytime she even looks at another drake. Her and I are just friends, Trent. Her and Dive? She looks at him like he's her brother." Duke tried to explain. Trent nodded, but looked so far out of it Duke doubted he'd remember Duke's advice in the morning.

He sighed, standing back up.

"You alright, babe?" Nikki asked, walking over. Or more or less stumbling over.

"Yeah, fine."

"That was crazy!" Nikki commented, leaning into his side. He held onto her, only so she didn't fall over. These ducks sucked at holding their alcohol.

She looked up at him, kissing his neck. He leaned away and looked at her. She gave him an innocent look before leaning forward again.

"Not now, Nikki." Duke said, pulling away.

"Why not?" she asked.

"You're drunk." he said simply.

"Yeah? So?" she asked.

"I'm not gonna take advantage of you." his simple tone was irritating her.

"You wouldn't be. Do I look like I'm stopping you?" she asked, spreading her arms wide.

"Nikki, stop." his tone was final and she grimaced.

"Fine, I'll catch y'all later." she muttered, walking over and pulling on her coat. She reached into her jacket, pulling out her keys. Duke saw what she was doing and as she opened the door, he slammed it.

"Get out of my way, Duke." she growled.

"No, you're not going anywhere." he said, stepping in close to her. He took her keys and pocketed them.

"Give me my keys!" she cried.

"Nikki?" Kim, one of Canard's friends, walked over.

"He's being an asshole!" Nikki cried, pointing at Duke. Duke sighed, handing Kim Nikki's keys.

"Here. She's not in any condition to be driving." he muttered to Kim.

"I know." she said, taking the keys, "thank you." she said, guiding Nikki over to the couch on the left, despite Nikki's protests. Her brothers had left about an hour ago, so now it was just her, Canard, Wildwing, Nosedive, Duke, Jess, Jake, Anna and Trent.

Canard walked downstairs, seeing Kim lay Nikki down on the couch.

"Here." he sighed, opening a closet and pulling out some blankets. He handed one to Kim before draping another over Nosedive and handing one to Wing.

"Thanks Can." Wing murmured, partly asleep.

"Come on." Canard said to Duke, walking back to the kitchen. He grabbed Trent's arms motioning to Duke to grab the teenager's legs. He was out and Duke wasn't surprised the kid didn't wake up as they moved him to the floor in the living room. Canard sighed, draping a blanket over him as well. Jake was already passed out on the floor and Jess had laid down next to the couch Nosedive was on.

Once everyone was passed out, or nearly passed out, Canard wrapped an arm around Kim.

"Sorry about that." Canard murmured.

"Nah, it's fine. Shit happens." Duke muttered, glancing around the living room, "it could have been a lot worse."

"Oh yeah." Canard agreed, "anyways, there is a guest bedroom upstairs. You're welcome to use that." Canard offered. Duke nodded.

"Thanks. I'll probably get me a glass of water and head up in a little bit." Duke said. He almost said he'd just go home, but looking outside he saw a blizzard was howling away and decided better on it.

"Alright. Night." Canard said as he and Kim walked upstairs.

"Good night." Duke responded, sitting down at the kitchen table.

He swirled the last bit of beer that was in his bottle around, just staring at it. He sighed, standing up and walking over to the sink, dumping the bottle out. He threw it away and searched for a glass.

Once he found it, he turned on the faucet and got himself some water before walking back to the kitchen table. He swirled the glass around in front of him, all the while wondering how Anna was doing just up the stairs in her room.


	11. Anna's dilemma

Anna woke with a start. She felt fuzzy and remembered taking shots with Nosedive last night.

"Ugh, that's one way to get hammered instantly." she muttered to herself. As she stood up, she remembered Nosedive and Trent getting into a fight. She went downstairs, looking around. Nosedive was asleep on one couch next to a recliner that had Wildwing sleeping in it. On the floor beside Nosedive's couch was Jake and Jess. Next to the other couch on the floor slept Trent and on the couch next to him was Nikki. Nikki! Wasn't she and Duke acting like a couple last night? Where was Duke?

"Must have went home." she muttered to herself, walking into the kitchen. She flipped on the light and let out a surprised squeak. When the lights came on, they revealed Duke sitting at the table, sipping on a mug of coffee.

"What are you doing here!" she demanded, walking in a little. She felt slightly exposed. She usually slept in a tank top and short shorts, and she felt herself tugging slightly at the shorts as she stood there.

"What, a drake can't have a cup of coffee now?" he snorted.

"What time is it anyways?" she asked, glancing at the clock on the stove. It read 6:28 a.m.

"Almost 6:30" Duke answered about the time that Anna saw the time.

"What are you doing up so early?" she asked. He shrugged, taking another sip of coffee.

"So what happened with Nikki?" Anna asked, motioning back to the living room as she poured herself a cup of coffee.

"Last I saw, Kim was laying her down on the couch." Duke murmured as Anna sat down next to him.

"So, you two didn't... you know, do anything?" she asked.

"No, Anna." He seemed appalled she would even think of such a thing.

"Why not? Wasn't she your date?" Anna asked.

"No, she wasn't." Duke said curtly.

"Sure seemed like it." Anna muttered as she took a sip of coffee.

"Dammit, Anna." she jumped at his tone, "Nikki came onto me. I didn't really have much choice than to accept her advances. Otherwise, she would have gotten pissed and I would have been deemed the bad guy." Duke explained.

"There's always a choice, Duke." Anna retorted, never breaking eye contact. "And don't you dare ever let anyone tell you otherwise."

"Rather wise words... for a hatchling." he mocked. She rolled her eyes playfully at him.

"Still more skilled with a blade than you." she retorted, receiving a raised eyebrow.

"Thems sound like fightin' words, Annie." Duke said, leaning forward.

"Well, maybe they are." she challenged playfully.

"So what exactly happened after the fight with Dive and Trent." she asked.

"You remember all that?" he asked.

"Barely. I don't remember why they started fighting. I just remember Canard picking me up once the dust kind of settled and taking me up to my room." she explained.

"Well, not much after that. Canard got Dive laid down on the couch. Nikki got pissed with me when I told her I wouldn't sleep with her and tried to leave... I swiped her keys and gave them to Kim..." he looked to be in thought. "Then Kim got Nikki to go to sleep on the couch, and trent passed out right here in the kitchen, so Canard and I moved him into the living room."

"That's it?" she asked.

"Basically." he shrugged.

"So wait, where did you sleep?" she asked.

"Well, Canard offered me the guest bedroom upstairs... but I haven't been to sleep yet." he admitted.

"Why not?" she asked.

"Lost in thought, I guess." he muttered, looking away. Anna looked to be in thought herself as she took another sip of coffee.

"So why did you turn Nikki down? All through the night, it looked like you guys liked each other." she said.

"That's called conning, sweetheart. I'm pretty good at it." he chuckled. She eyed him.

"You aren't conning me, are you?" she asked, squinting suspiciously at him.

"Jeez, Anna, what do you take me for, some sort of actual con-artist?" he asked.

"Actually, Duke, if that is your real name, I wouldn't put it past you. I mean, I literally just met you. What do I really know about you? Your first name is Duke and you got your eye fucked up by a low life thief. I mean, do you even have a brother? Is he actually dead, or are you just lying about that too?" she asked.

"Hold on right there, Anna!" he growled, gritting his teeth, "don't you dare shit on Kale's memory like that." his reaction told her that he definitely had a brother but she was heated.

"I'm sorry Duke, I just... I hardly feel like I know you. I mean, how do I know you didn't come in here planning to rob us blind?" she asked.

He swirled his cup of coffee around in his mug. He was somewhat shocked at how close she had guessed his profession.

"Fair enough, sweetheart. But trust me when I say... you don't wanna know me." he muttered. She reached her hand over, taking his.

"Yes, Duke. I do." she tried. He sighed out, taking a quick sip from his mug.

"Anna, trust me. I have nothing to offer you. My life is a trainwreck waiting to happen and I'm not going to ask you to board that train." he tried. Her thumb rubbed against his hand for a moment, and the gesture caused him to glance back up at her. Had they scooted closer, or had they always been sitting this close? Anna leaned in slightly.

"You don't have to ask, I want to get on the train." she said, her eyes never leaving his. He sighed out again, moving his hand to her cheek.

"Anna-" they leaned closer to each other, almost bill to bill, "sweetheart, I can't..." he trailed off, not entirely sure what he was doing. He had no control of his actions right now. _So much for proving to Trent I don't want his girl,_ he thought, helplessly.

Footsteps were heard from the livingroom and it broke the two ducks from their trance before anything could happen.

"You two are up early." it was Canard, walking over to the carafe and pouring himself a cup. He started some more coffee brewing, knowing Wildwing and some of the others would probably want some coffee too when they got up.

He came over to sit by Anna, across from Duke. He eyed his baby sister and she felt herself shrink under his gaze.

"So, what's your story?" Canard asked, turning his attention towards Duke. Duke cleared his throat, taking a sip of coffee.

"Not much to tell." he tried. Anna sighed. She wasn't sure why she thought Duke would all of a sudden open up to her brother, but a girl could hope.

"Come on, there's gotta be something." Canard tried, "I mean, how did you end up in that parking lot?" he asked.

Duke looked to be contemplating whether or not to answer. He wasn't, he was just trying to figure out how much he could get away with saying, without giving everything away.

"I followed Falcone there. For some reason, I could just sense he was up to no good." Duke explained, telling the honest truth.

"Falcone..." Canard seemed to be thinking of his next question. "How'd you know him?"

"We uh..." Duke trailed off, realizing he hadn't thought about what to say before he spoke. "we got some training in the same class." he tried to keep it brief.

"Which class?" Canard was relentless.

"It was... I guess it was mostly a sabre class. Defense and offense, and then some hand to hand combat and then some other stuff." Once again he hadn't lied. Granted, he hadn't told the whole truth either. That other stuff, which was basically enhancing thievery skills, was the main part of said "class". It wasn't necessarily a class either. Him and Falcone were just in the same age group, so they would train against each other, practicing their skills on each other... to see more where they ranked in the hood, more so than get a grade. So he might have stretched the truth a little bit, so what?

"Anna takes a class like that! Maybe you guys are in the same class and never even noticed." Canard tried. Duke let out a chuckle.

"nah, I'm pretty sure we're not in the same class." he tried.

"And why do you say that?" Anna suddenly demanded, "what, just because I'm younger than you, I can't be the same level?" she accused. Duke's chuckle sobered.

"I didn't say that, sweetheart. Falcone and I were trained privately." he explained. Anna blushed, realizing she had jumped the gun.

"Anyways, it's pretty early. Probably oughta head for home." Duke announced, finding the perfect moment to cut into Canard's probing to get the hell out of there. He stood up, taking care of his cup. He thanked Canard for the coffee and party and started towards the door. Anna followed him out, wrapping her coat around her, though her legs were still bare.

She shut the door behind her and Duke stopped walking. Still facing the other way, he sighed.

"Anna, get back inside." he commanded.

"Not until I get some real answers. Tell me something real. Something that isn't just some half-assed answer to something my brother asked." she tried.

"Sweetheart, I'm getting tired of the probing." he sighed, turning back around.

"Come on, Duke! I saved your feathers and you saved mine. I told you about Trent last night. Now come on. My tail feathers are freezing!" she demanded, shivering. He walked towards her, taking her into his trench coat. She hugged herself around him, and his warmth fell over her.

"Sweetheart, trust me. If you knew who I was, you wouldn't wanna be around me." he tried. "I'm dangerous."

"Please, Duke." she tried, looking up at him. He sighed, trying to escape her pleading gaze.

"L'orange." he muttered, looking away.

"What? Wait... Duke L'Orange?" she asked, taking a step back, studying him hard.

"You're Duke L'Orange. The famous jewel thief." it wasn't a question. He nodded slowly, still not looking at her. He was surprised when he felt her back in his arms, hugging around him.

"I don't even care, Duke. I really don't." she promised, hugging him tight. He hugged her back and found himself with his chin on her head. He loved this feeling.

"But you see why I'm dangerous, now?" he tried. Honestly he was scared of the answer. She had already become such a big part of his life in such a small amount of time. What if she decided here and now that he really was too dangerous to be with? _it's the way it's gotta be!_ the small voice in the back of his head whispered. But was it the way it had to be, or was there another way?

She looked up at him, and once again they found themselves nearly bill to bill.

"Duke... I already told you I didn't care." it was the softest voice Duke had ever heard. Anna looked at him for a moment, and he felt her get closer to him. She was leaning up to him and he could feel their beaks almost touching. He didn't pull away. He felt himself gravitating towards her.

"Anna?" as if on cue, Canard was at the door.

"Come on inside, sis. you're going to catch pneumonia!" he exaggerated.

"Yeah, yeah. coming bro." she said, glancing back at Duke.

"I'll see you around?" she asked. he nodded.

"See ya around, sweetheart." he promised. He turned around, hardly believing he had nearly kissed Anna. They were so close. He shook his head. He couldn't let that happen again. She had a boyfriend, and he had no life for her to live. She said she didn't care but deep down, he knew he couldn't subject her to such a lifestyle.

Anna watched him leave for a moment before turning and walking back into the house. She shut the door and leaned against it. It took a second to realize that Canard was staring at her.

"What?" she asked.

"I saw that." he informed. Anna just shrugged, heading for the stairs. He grabbed her arm, turning her back around. "What's going on Anna?" he demanded.

"I mean, one second, you're all over Trent, going to movies with him instead of picking your awesome, fearless, handsome brother up at the train. And now you're all over a duck who's way too old for you?" he asked.

"I wasn't all over him." she tried.

"That didn't look like you weren't all over him." he muttered.

She looked down.

"And what about Trent. You can't just throw him away like yeterday's spaghetti. kid's got a lot of feelings-"

"You don't like him very well." she muttered.

"Because of the way he acted on his feelings. He really does care about you, in his own weird way. What's it going to do to him if he finds out about Duke?" he asked.

"There's nothing going on with Duke. We're just friends." she muttered.

"That didn't look like nothing." He said, seriously.

"I'm tired, and don't wanna talk about this right now!" she said sternly. "I'll... catch ya later." she muttered, walking back up the stairs. She got to her room and laid down on her bed. She was pretty tired still from the night before, but she couldn't sleep. All she could do was lay there, thinking about Canard, Trent, and Duke.


	12. It begins

Canard walked down the stairs, wearing slacks and a nice dress shirt.

"Where are you heading off to?" Chloe asked.

"Military Christmas Party." Canard explained.

"That's right, I almost forgot." she murmured. "You know, back in my day, they never had military Christmas parties." she tried.

"Yeah, but that's because y'all were at war all the time. Our generation is a peaceful group." he said simply, straightening his jacket.

"Yeah, or we made the world a peaceful place for your generation." Chloe muttered, messing with his hair.

"Ma!" he protested, jerking away.

"I'm sorry, Canard. You know how I am." she argued.

"I know, Ma." he said, pulling her into a hug.

Anna walked down the stairs then. She shoved past Canard, shouldering him hard as she headed for the couch.

"You know, I still have written down that I'm bringing a +1..." Canard tried as she plopped down. She ignored him, lifting the remote high above her head to exaggerate turning on the TV. He sighed out, looking back at his mom.

"Give it time. She'll come around." Chloe promised.

Anna and Canard had had a bigger blowout a couple of days after the Christmas party. He talked her into dismissing Duke and staying with Trent. She hadn't talked to Duke since. Anna had been irritated and while fighting with Canard, she had even managed to bring Kim up...

 _"I let you be with whoever you want!" Anna had growled at Canard._

 _"Yeah, but I started out with Kim. You're still with Trent. If you didn't wanna be with him, you should have thought about that before getting serious with him!"_

 _"I didn't know Duke then!"_

 _"You can't just do that, Anna! You can't just drop Trent and move on to someone you just met."_

 _"Canard, I-"_

 _"What's going to happen in 5 years when you meet someone better than Duke? You gonna drop him flat on his beak, too?" Canard had challenged._

 _"It won't be that way." she promised._

 _"A month ago, if I would have asked you if you and Trent would be together forever, what would you have said?"_

 _"I don't have to justify anything to you!" came the retort._

 _"Because deep down... you know I'm right."_

"Sweetie?" Anna was pulled from the memory of the fight by her mom.

"I've got some green beans and a baked potato. In case you were hungry." Chloe offered her daughter a plate.

"Thanks." she murmured, taking the plate.

"You know, you can't stay mad at him forever." Chloe tried.

"I won't. I'm waiting to see how next week goes." she muttered, taking a bite of green beans.

"Just don't let this tear you guys apart. You both are stronger than this. Promise me you two will make up." Chloe pleaded. Anna looked distant.

"I'll try." she finally said, and it was enough for Chloe to head back into the kitchen to get her own plate and join Anna to watch a TV show.

* * *

Canard made his way through the group of ducks. His eyes searched the crowd for Kim. Everyone had come in their best clothes. All the men wore anything from slacks to tuxedos while the girls all wore formal gowns.

He searched the crowd, finally coming across Roger and Tim.

"Looking for our sister?" Roger asked, seeing right through Canard. Canard gave a sheepish grin before nodding.

"Yeah, have you seen her?" he asked. Tim pointed, and Canard saw Kim appear through the crowd.

She wore a long green off the shoulder gown, accented around the waste with a silver leaf looking pattern. Her blue eyes met him and he smiled, walking over. He bowed, and she curtsied. He reached out his arm, and she laced her arm through his as he led her to the dancefloor.

"You look gorgeous." he commented as they fell into a waltz.

"You don't look too shabby yourself." she added, smirking.

"Where's your sister?" she asked.

"She uh-" Canard looked down. Kim's eyebrows creased with worry.

"I'm sorry, Can. I wish you guys weren't fighting." Kim tried to be supportive.

"You and I both, Kimmy." Canard muttered

"Has she even talked to you since the fight?" Kim asked. Canard shook his head.

"Unfortunately. It's nothing big we're fighting over though. She's just making a bigger deal out of it than it really is. It'll pass." he promised, twirling Kim out and then back into his body.

"I hope so." Kim said, looking genuinely concerned. "I don't think I've ever seen you guys fight like this before." she mentioned.

"We've never fought like this before." he confirmed, "we've had little spats, but nothing that issued a silent treatment that lasted more than a couple of days." he added.

The song ended and they stopped dancing long enough to clap.

Just then, the ground shook beneath them and all the ducks looked genuinely surprised. Canard glanced over to the buffet table where General McMallard stood. The general met his gaze.

"What the hell was that?" Henry exclaimed, running up.

"I'm not sure." Canard admitted. The general motioned for him to follow as they exited the mess hall. Many of the ducks saw this, and followed.

A bang was heard, as the ground shook again.

"I don't like this." Kim said, grabbing Canard's hand.

"Is it a quake?" Tim asked, coming to stand by his sister.

"Can't be. It doesn't have the right pattern." Henry inquired.

At that moment, a huge ship flew over them, morphing into a walking giant.

"Oh shit!" Canard growled, taken by surprise.

"Time for a quick change, ducks!" the general commanded, his voice bellowing loud enough to be heard inside the mess hall for the ducks that had decided better on coming out. In a flash of orange light, the formal wear was gone and was instantly replaced by military armor and gear.

They were all still as the machine stomped around.

"What is it?" Roger asked from his spot.

"Is it raptrin?" Henry asked, cocking his head at it. Canard shook his head no.

"It looks... This is going to sound crazy, but it looks like a saurian monitor tower." Canard explained. The general whipped his head back around at him.

"I hate to say it, but I was thinking the same thing, Lieutenant." The general confirmed.

"The saurians?" Tim asked with wide eyes. The rest of the ducks around them started whispering amongst themselves too. The saurians, up to this point, had just been a scary bedtime story. They vanished centuries ago. So what the hell was going on?!

Suddenly, the head of the monitor tower whipped around in their direction, and they froze. It raised it's arms to reveal blasters. Canard heard them heat up.

"Ducks! Get out of there, now!" he yelled into the mess hall. Everyone around him scattered as the ducks ran to get out. Fireballs flew out of the blasters and Canard took Kim down with him as the mess hall blew up.

Canard looked up once the dust cleared.

"To the aerowings!" the general commanded as ducks entered the vehicles 6 at a time. Canard started up the engines. Kim took co-pilot, Tim and Roger were on blasters, Henry was on radio and Mary, a duck with tan feathers and fiery red hair, had joined them and was the navigator.

"Corporal, what are you seeing? How many of these things are there?" Canard asked Mary once they were up in the air. He could already see 5 from where he was, destroying the city. She tapped at the computer in front of her a little bit.

"Canard, I- I don't like this..." she admitted, seeing the number of hostile dots that had appeared on her screen.

"How many!" he demanded, going down so Tim could get a shot on his side.

"They're all over the planet, Canard." Mary said, looking up at him. His face fell as he realized Tim's shots on this thing had no effect on it.

"How's south side doing?" he barked, flying back around to try and get another shot at it.

"Not good. They're grounded." Henry informed as he listened over the radio. "They say the aerowings were the first thing the saurians took out. Guess they don't want these ducks flying anytime soon." Henry partly joked. Canard shook his head, out of ideas. He saw aerowings around him getting shot down and thought quickly.

"patch me through to the general." Canard ordered, and Henry pressed some buttons on his end as Canard put his headset on.

"Sir?" Canard asked.

"What is it, Lieutenant?" came the response.

"I don't think the aerowings are doing any damage. We're getting taken down up here. I don't think we can keep attacking by air. Permission to land?" he asked.

"No, Thunderbeak. Permission to hide. East side came through about 10 seconds before you called me. Their aerowings have all been destroyed. We need to save as many aerowings as we can." Canard heard a click and knew the general had opened multiple lines. He switched his headset over to speakers.

"Everyone in the sky, follow Lieutenant Thunderbeak to the Fallback base. We need to save as many aerowings as we can."

With that, Canard kicked it into high gear. The monitor tower, for some reason, sensed their retreat and followed. Their first programed mission must have been to destroy all aerowings.

"Lieutenant!" came a cry through the speaker and they heard an explosion to the left of the ship that shook it.

"Oh god." Mary muttered, seeing friendlies getting fired upon.

"Squad 5 and 9 are down." she informed, tapping into her system a little more.

"We got a monitor tower right on our tail and he doesn't look too friendly!" she added.

"I'll shake him!" Canard promised, suddenly flipping the aerowing upside down.

"Oh god, I think I'm gonna be sick!" Roger muttered, making a gagging noise.

"Hold on! I've got an idea." Canard said, flipping the aerowing back upright. They were now headed North. Kim narrowed her eyes at Canard.

"Wait, we're headed for..."

"Multnoma cliffs." Canard said with a grin. A blast flew past them and the ship jerked.

"I hope we make it!" Tim cried from his seat.

"Tim, we've got like one of the main characters on this ship, I think we're gonna be just fine." Roger muttered, rolling his eyes.

The monitor tower did just as Canard planned. It was barreling towards them and fell right off the cliff.

The team starting cheering but Canard stopped them.

"No reason to cheer yet." Canard muttered, looking out his windshield. Tons of the same monitor towers were walking around, blasting the city to bits. He sighed, glancing around at everyone.

"Come on, let's get the aerowing hidden."


	13. Chloe's demise

Duke partly rolled, partly fell out of bed.

"So much for a nap." he muttered, getting up off the floor. What the hell had woken him up? Then he heard it. Another loud boom, and dirt fell from the ceiling.

He stood up quick, pulling on his gear. He was out the door in under a minute.

"Yo, Darren!" he called, seeing his best friend heading towards him. Darren's green eyes were filled with worry. The thieves guild was completely quiet. Another boom sounded above them and Duke glanced back at Darren.

"Could it be the law? Did they find us?" Darren partly whispered.

"Nah, that doesn't sound like commotion from a police force breaking their way in. It sounds like bombs." Duke speculated. His eyes then widened.

"Darren, where are my brother and sister!?" he suddenly asked.

"Right here, Duke." Duke turned to see Aiden and Mia making their way through the crowd, and he sighed with relief. Mia grabbed onto her brother while Aiden just took his spot at Duke's side.

"What's going on up there?" Mia partly whispered.

"I don't know..." Duke trailed off, letting go of her. "But I'm about to find out." he said, walking towards the door to their base. She grabbed onto his arm with a vice grip.

"Duke, no!" she said sternly, giving him a "mom" look.

"Mia, let go." he warned.

"No! What if you die up there!" she demanded, a hard look crossing her eyes.

Darren and Aiden stood behind her, watching the dispute.

"I won't." he promised, "besides, there's somebody up there I need to check on." he met Darren's gaze, and Darren instantly knew who he was talking about.

"Mia." Darren tried, grabbing her shoulders gently. She jerked away.

"Somebody more important than your baby sister?" she asked, trying to guilt trip him.

"I already know my baby sister is safe." he explained, "I just gotta make sure one more duck is accounted for. I'll be back before ou know it, Mia. I promise." he said, kissing the top of her head before dashing off towards the entrance.

* * *

After dinner, Chloe went to the kitchen to get dishes done while Anna switched off the tv and picked up her book. Chloe, needing some sort of noise in the house, had flipped on the radio in the kitchen while she did dishes. She was humming along until static broke through her song. She frowned, turning the tuner knob slightly both ways to see if she could get her song back on. She sighed in utter defeat when nothing came through. She flipped the radio off.

"Anna, sweetie. Could you turn the TV on? I've gotta have some sort of noise." Chloe called.

Without looking away from her book, Anna obliged, flipping on the TV all while never looking up.

"We still don't know what they are, or where they came from..." came a voice from the TV. "They landed just barely even twenty minutes ago, and already city blocks upon city blocks have been destroyed."

"Ooh, sounds like a sci-fi thriller!" Chloe called, trying to make conversation with her daughter. Anna read for a moment, finishing her sentence before glancing up at the TV. She looked back down to her book before her eyes went wide, looking back up. She set her book down slowly and stood up, realizing she was on the News Channel.

"If you're just tuning in with us, please seek shelter as we don't know what thse things are yet, but know they seem bent on destroying everything in their path."

"Um, mom?" Anna heard a distant boom and the house shook.

"Was that a quake?" Chloe asked from her spot in the kitchen, still oblivious to what her daughter had just found out.

"We will stay on the air as long as we can." said the news woman, and at that moment Anna heard a whistling sound.

"Mom, get down!" she called as she ducked beneath the coffee table. An explosion shook the house and Anna screamed as the house exploded into pieces around her. Debris hit the coffee table and she found herself hoping the table would hold up. Once she was sure the dust had settled, she heard something that sounded like a huge blender getting started up, and then stopping. Started up, and then stopping over and over again. She dug her way out from beneath the table, heading towards a slit in the pile of broken wood that had surrounded her. As she moved, she felt a sharp pain in her ankle, but she ignored it. She looked through to see a giant red machine walking through the streets. She felt herself freeze, scared that if the thing saw the wood she was under move, that it would turn back for her. She waited until it was out of sight before digging her way out of the pile. She went to stand, but almost instantly fell back down as a screaming pain shot through her ankle.

"Dammit!" she gritted her teeth, falling back on her butt and grabbing at her right ankle. She pulled her sock and shoe off, examining an already swollen ankle. _god, I hope it's not broken._ she muttered, slipping the sock back on. She tried to put her shoe back on, but found it too painful as tears stung her eyes. She held the shoe and began crawling her way to the kitchen, figuring she'd get there faster that way.

"Mom?" she called out, digging through the debris.

"Mom!" she screamed, digging more frantically.

Her hand fell across feathers and her heart started pounding faster as she dug the splintered boards away from her mom's hand. She grabbed onto her hand, feeling tears form in her eyes. One ran down her cheek as she realized her mom wasn't squeezing her hand back.

"Mom?" she asked softly, feeling the sobs trying to break through. Her mom's hand squeezed back and Anna felt new hope, tearing the boards away until she could see her mother's beautiful blue eyes.

"Mom!" she exclaimed. "Are you alright?" she asked, crawling over closer to her mom's head. Chloe looked at her daughter lovingly, reaching her hand up to take her daughter's hand.

"Anna, sweetie-" Chloe could barely get those words out without gasping in pain. her hand jerked from Anna's, going down to her side which was just barely covered by pieces of the house. Anna saw red stained wood where her mother had reached and her eyes went wide as she realized a piece of their pantry door had stabbed her mother clean through the abdominal area. Anna felt more tears run down her cheeks as she grabbed her mother's hand back into hers.

"Mom?" she barely croaked, her voice masked by a whimper.

"Anna, do you remember how to get to Canard's apartment complex. The one he lived in while in the military?" Chloe struggled, but managed to get the words out. Anna nodded.

"Well, yeah... But why do I have to remember? You're going with me!" Anna demanded.

"Go to... his apartment... the military base... it's not too far... from there." Chloe was barely able to get the words out, her voice strained and laced with pain. Tears were running down her cheeks as she stroked her hand against Anna's cheek. Anna closed her eyes against her mom's touch as Chloe wiped the tears away.

"I love you mommy." Anna croaked, laying down beside where her mom was buried and burying herself close to Chloe.

"I... I love you, Anna." Anna started sobbing violently as she heard her mother use her last breath to tell her she loved her.

"I love you." she repeated, knowing her mom was gone. She continued to sob over her mom's body, not even caring if that machine did come back for her. She'd gladly let it kill her at this point if she couldn't even have her mother.

* * *

"Oh no..." Duke felt his heart fall as he took off running for what used to be the Thunderbeak house.

"Anna!" he called out as he ran up on a piece of the roof.

"Anna!" he bellowed again before he heard sniffling. He rounded a pile of debris to see Anna laying on top of a pile of broken boards.

"Anna?" he asked, walking towards her carefully. "Sweetheart, are you alright?" he asked. He got closer and realized Anna was hugging something. He saw light brown feathers and he stopped, realizing it was Chloe.

"Oh no." he breathed out, kneeling down beside Anna. He picked her up from where she lay and pulled her into his arms. She gritted her teeth in pain, but then fell against his chest, bawling.

"I'm so sorry, sweetheart." Duke consoled, brushing her mane gently out of her tear streaked face.

"Anna!" another voice was heard and Duke recognized it to be Trent.

"Why? First Dad, and now Mom..." a sob interrupted Anna's outburst, "this... this isn't fair!" she screamed as Trent rounded the corner.

"Anna, what-" he cut himself off as he saw Chloe's body lying in the wreckage.

"Oh baby..." he said, kneeling down next to Duke. Anna shifted from Duke and Trent and Trent held her close to him. As Anna cried into Trent's chest, Duke stood up, walking around the wreckage, glancing around. He looked back down to the teenagers, and Trent met his gaze. Duke half expected Trent to glare, or do something crazy considering the last way he had reacted when another drake had touched his girl. But there was a grateful look in his eyes as he mouthed _thank-you_ to Duke. Duke just nodded. He let them sit like that for a moment before he heard stomping in the distance.

"Come on, we can't stay here." Duke finally tried. Trent and Anna remained immobile for a moment, but as the stomping got closer, Trent came to his senses. He cleared his throat, shifting Anna in his arms.

"He's right, Anna. We gotta go." he said, helping the distraught girl to her feet. Her right leg seemed to give out on her but Trent caught her.

"What's wrong?" he asked, gripping her tightly so she wouldn't fall.

"Trent, it's my ankle. I can't walk on it." she explained. His eyes went wide at her as the stomping was now practically on top of them.

Duke picked Anna up bridal style, running for a nearby Alley. The buildings had been destroyed, but the walls still stood high enough to hide behind. The machine marched by and Duke set Anna back down, slowly so she could prepare herself to stand just on the one leg.

"Anna, where's Canard?" Trent asked.

"Canard?" Anna seemed dazed for a moment, almost like she didn't know anyone by such a name. "he's... he's at the military Christmas party. Mom..." she breathed in, holding back the sob that threatened at the mention of her mother's name. "she told me to go to his apartment that he had when he was full time military." she explained.

"Alright, we'll start there." Trent glanced over at Duke, "come on."

"now, hold on a second." he said.

"What?" Anna asked, looking hard at him. she sensed his hesitation, "you're coming, right?"

"Nah, I gotta get back to the 'hood." he tried. Trent nodded, reaching out his hand to shake Duke's. Trent took Duke's place, and wrapped Anna's arm around his shoulders, his arm going around her waist for support. Duke went to walk away but Anna stopped him.

"Wait, what if things get bad. How will we know you're alright? How will we find you?" she asked.

"Corner of Higggens and South. There's a warehouse. Once inside, there's a trapdoor pretty well hidden in the back left corner..." he explained.

"Trapdoor. Back left. Got it." she nodded, memorizing the location. She jumped out of Trent's arms to Duke's to hug him. Duke hugged her back, and as he studied Trent he didn't see any malice at all. Apparently, the kid had taken his advice and eased up when it came to other drake's and Anna.

"I WILL see you again." she promised. She lingered for a moment, memorizing the features of his face before hopping back to Trent's arms. Duke nodded as he watched the teenagers hobble around the corner.


	14. Anna finds Canard

a peach/tan duck made her way through the city. Her light purple mane fell loosely down her back and she jumped over a broken wall, rolling before standing up and running again.

Had she deserted her group? Probably... but they were goners anyways, and she was a survivor.

She crossed through what used to be Downtown but stopped as one of the fuzzy pictured jumbotrons switched on. On the screen appeared... she couldn't believe it, but a living, breathing saurian. His complexion was red and he wore blue robes.

"Ducks of puckworld!" his voice echoed around city square...

* * *

"Um, general?" A young red haired duck had been sitting at the radio. General McMallard walked over, "you're gonna wanna hear this..." she said, switching the knobs to speaker mode.

* * *

"Hundreds of years ago, my ancestors were banished to Dimensional Limbo by one, Drake Ducaine. Now, I, Lord Dragaunus, have returned to exact my revenge! There's nowhere you can run that I won't find you! Now, ducks, your planet belongs to me!" the saurian chuckled menacingly as the screen went fuzzy once more. Everyone who had been in the square began running around in terror. Suddenly, on the corner of the street, Hunter drones appeared everywhere.

The hunter drones began firing warning shots before capturing the ducks that had been in the square. All of the ducks were kneeling with their hands behind their heads.

In a flash of green, an orange saurian appeared before them.

"Oh, yeah! Dragaunus is gonna be happy once he sees how many ducks I've got for his first... enslavement camp!" he growled towards the group. the purple maned duck stood up. The hunter drones moved to fire on her.

"Wait!" she shrieked. The saurian raised his hand, stopping the drones.

"What do you want?" he asked with a sneer.

"I was just going to let you know that if you lock me up, you'll never conquer this planet to it's full benefits." she tried.

"What are you getting at?"

"Well, you want to conquer the planet... I want to survive. Help me, help you to help me!" she tried.

"Yeah right, and what could a duck offer a saurian..." the orange once trailed off.

"I know where the East side military base is." she promised. Ducks on their knees in the circle started cursing at her.

"You lousy traitor!" came just one of the calls from the group.

"Shut up! Web footed whimps!" he growled at them before turning back to the female duck. He rubbed his chin, seeming to be in thought.

"Come with me." he said, grabbing onto her. Green light encircled her and suddenly she was standing in an almost red room.

"Siege, what is the meaning of this!" came a growl and the saurian from TV, Dragaunus, stepped into view. Siege grabbed her arm, shoving her towards him.

"This duck said she wants to help us." Siege explained.

"Really... why?" Dragaunus asked, looking intrigued.

"Look at this planet. It's all but already taken over. I know what the winning side looks like." Dragaunus looked amused at this.

"And what kind of services, exactly, can you offer?"

* * *

"Come on, we gotta hurry." rushed Anna once the TV changed back to static. They happened to be passing a television store when Dragaunus' speech came on. As the message went off the air, hunter drones began marching the streets.

"Let's move!" she hurried as they partly jogged, partly limped away. They carried on like that for a little while before Anna stopped, reaching for her injured ankle.

"I can't..." she sighed out as Trent sat her against the wall to an alley.

"Come on, Annie. We've got to. I bet your brother's waiting for us right now!" he tried.

"Trent, I can't hardly walk! There's no way we're going to get through these streets without being seen!" she insisted, looking away from him. That's when she saw it.

"Anna, we-"

"look." she cut him off, pointing at the sewer lid that lay just ten feet away.

"Come on..." she said, partly crawling over to it.

"Annie, what-"

"This is how we avoid detection." she promised, scooting the lid off. Trent looked like he would protest, but the sound of hunter drones marching nearby drove him to help her down into the sewers.

* * *

Canard and his team made their way through the sewers. His flashlight bounced around the walls.

"Hold up!" he commanded in a whisper, holding his arm out so everyone would stop walking. The ducks sensed his seriousness and went deathly quiet.

"Wait, why do you have a flashlight?" they heard a female voice.

"I got it out of my nightstand, along with a lighter, a pocket knife, and gum." came the male response.

"Wait, you've had gum this whole time!" the female pouted.

"Hold it!" Canard jumped around the corner the voices were coming from, his gun pointed out in front of him. His eyes went wide, seeing it was his sister. He lowered his weapon and Anna let go of Trent, partly limping to her brother. She about lost her footing as she reached him. He caught her, pulling her into a huge hug.

She almost started crying instantly and it made him pull her tighter, wanting to fix whatever was bothering his baby sister.

"Sh, sh. it's alright." he soothed, brushing her mane. Why was she crying so hard? Was it because she was hurt? He could tell she was limping.

"Anna, what happened? Where are you hurt?" he asked, holding her out to look at her.

"Canard, it's mom..." she trailed off, throwing herself back into his arms.

"What?" he asked, knowing her despair was real. He looked over to Trent.

"I'm sorry, Canard." was all he said, but he sounded so distant.

"Anna, it's... I mean, it can't be true..." he tried.

"Canard, I..." she shook her head, tears running down her face. "She told me to come find you. There was nothing I could do... she... she's gone." Anna partly sobbed while trying to explain what happened.

"Canard?" he heard Henry behind him and he felt the tears start to come. He tried to hold them back as he turned to look at his friend.

"Are you alright?" Henry asked. Canard hugged Anna tighter and just nodded, a few stray tears falling on his cheeks. He was embarrassed. His team couldn't see him cry!

Henry walked forward, hugging around both Canard and Anna. "I'm sorry, guys. This sucks. It all sucks."

"We're gonna stop these saurians, anyway we can." Canard's determined look scared Henry. Canard was pissed, and he was going to get his revenge.


	15. Chapter 15

The wild haired blond tapped away ferociously at a screen.

"What have you got, Vanderflock?" she turned to look at Captain RedIce who walked up behind her.

"Not good, Captain. I've been working on, uh, analyzing the monitor towers for weaknesses but so far, I'm not getting anywhere." she admitted, sliding her chair back. It had been a week now since the monitors attacked and thus far, the military had been driven underground. All their vehicles had been destroyed, Aerowings and Migrators alike. She had heard the West side base had successfully hidden one aerowing, but bringing it out now would almost guarantee it's destruction.

"Oh, thank god!" Both ducks turned their heads towards the door where a purple haired duck came stumbling in.

"State your name." RedIce ordered, though he knew she belonged to the military. She wore the insignia and how else could she have known the security code.

"Corporal Lucretia Decoy." she saluted.

"At ease, Corporal. What happened?" he asked, seeing she had been through a lot.

"A week ago, when the attacks first started, my group and I were above. I got separated from them. While I was up there, one of the jumbotrons came on. Sir, it's the saurians. They've returned." Lucretia reported.

"We know." RedIce confirmed. "We've had Tanya analyzing the monitor towers since they landed."

"Any luck?" Lucretia asked. he shook his head.

"Nothing yet." he admitted. The radio beeped and Tanya put one of the headphones up to her ear.

"Um, Captain?" she trailed off, "we've got another broadcast from Dragaunus." she informed. He nodded, and she flipped the switch to take them to speakers.

"New orders, boys. You're going to Fern Gully-" Tanya switched it back off, "whoops. Wrong channel." she sheepishly switched the channels with a small giggle.

"As you retched ducks may have seen by now, resistance is futile. Surrender yourselves now, or perish!"

Tanya gave the captain a look.

"What do we do?" she asked him.

"We stand our ground. I think this saurian will soon find out, we ducks won't be taken down so easily."

* * *

 _A few days later_

"We're being taken down so easily!" came a random cry as explosions rocked the base. Tanya ran over to Captain RedIce, helping him up from where he had fallen.

"Come on, we've gotta evacuate!" he called, running for the tunnels. Before the got there, the tunnel collapsed.

"We have to go up top!" he commanded, and all the ducks that heard him headed for the stairs. They burst out of the base as it collapsed on itself. RedIce looked around at the ducks that had made it out. 20 ducks, maybe. He sighed before he realized hunterdrones were closing in on them.

"Scatter! We'll meet back up at the park!" he ordered as the ducks spread out.

The ducks all took off, running from the hunter drones that gave chase.

Tanya took off, instantly ducking into an alley behind a dumpster. The hunter drones marched past the alleyway and she waited until the marching sounded distant before ducking back out and taking off for the park.

Once she got to the park, it didn't take long for the Captain and about 8 other ducks to join her.

"Is this all that's left?" RedIce asked, glancing around. Everyone looked around and he sighed out.

"Alright... Tanya, take these 4. I'll take these 4 and meet you at the West side base. You remember how to get there?" he asked her. Tanya nodded, accepting the responsibility placed upon her.

"I don't know how to get there." Lucretia spoke up.

"It's alright, you'll be with me. Let's move team." he ordered as his team and Tanya's team took off in different directions. He missed the glare that Lucretia had given him.

* * *

Tanya led the way through the streets.

"Hey, Tanya?" one of the younger ducks, Jerry, joined her in the front.

"What is it, Russell?" she asked, calling him by his last name. She was still staring intently at her omnitool.

"Are we gonna make it?" he asked. She looked up and saw the fear in his eyes. She gave him a smile.

"Of course, Jerry. Especially after we take out whatever is blocking our comms." she added.

"Wait, what?" he asked.

"Well, I've been trying to home in on the signal of whatever has been blocking our communications, so we don't have to rely specifically on the radios anymore. I planned on looking for it once we got to the base, but I checked my GPS when we first left and realized it was only a few blocks of a detour from the base." she explained.

"Okay?" Jerry was confused.

"Up there." Tanya stopped, pointing to a skyscraper. She turned to the group and explained exactly what they were going to do.

* * *

RedIce grunted as he hit the ground. His group was kneeling with their hands behind their heads. All except for one.

"Good work, for a duck." the orange lizard sneered at Lucretia.

"Oh thanks, Siege darling." she muttered, glancing back down at the captain.

"Now, where do I find the West side base?" she demanded.

"Like I'd tell a filthy traitor like you." he spat. She pulled her leg back, kicking him in the face. He grunted against the pain, but remained glaring at her.

"I won't ask again." she said, pulling out her gun and cocking it.

"You might as well kill me if you're going to do it." She pulled her gun back, slapping it across his face. He grunted as he fell back. Suddenly, a beeping was heard coming from his wrist.

"What is that!" Siege demanded to know.

"It's his communicator... Looks like Tanya's been busy." Lucretia muttered, taking the comm off his wrist.

"Tanya..." RedIce muttered helplessly from where he lay.

"Here, hit me." Lucretia said. Siege hesitated for a moment. "Do it!" she growled. He shrugged, pulling back and punching her. Almost instantly, the feathers around her eye turned red.

"Damn, that hurt!" she commented.

"You asked for it." Siege muttered with a smirk. She glared at him while getting her hands in the dirt on the ground and running them through her hair, messing it all up.

"Keep them quiet!" she ordered, walking far enough away from the group and opening the comm.

"Tanya?" she asked, her tone changing almost instantly.

"Lucretia? What's going on?" Tanya seemed genuinely surprised that Lucretia had answered the comm, as well she should.

"The captain... everyone's been..." Lucretia trailed off, holding back fake tears.

"Calm down, Lucretia. Are you the only one left?" Tanya asked. Lucretia nodded.

"I hid... I hid like a coward! I feel so ashamed!" Lucretia cried.

"It's alright, Lucretia. Don't beat yourself up. Just get to West Side. Do you know how?" Lucretia shook her head no. Tanya recited directions before hanging up on her end.

"And that's how it's done." Lucretia smirked, walking over and throwing the comm on the ground, stepping on it to destroy it.

"Alright, girl! Let's go destroy another base!" Siege was ready to rock and roll, throwing a fist in the air.

"Negative. If you wanna find the South base, I need to get to West Side and gain their trust. Be patient. Soon enough the military won't even exist."


	16. Chapter 16

"We've lost east side!" Mary announced from her spot. Henry stood up from where he was sitting and began pacing back and forth.

"Henry, what's going on." Canard said, grabbing his friend by the shoulders to stop him from pacing. Anna still sat at the table, watching the ducks.

"It's Tanya... she reported something weird going on and then I lost connection with her. That was about fifteen minutes ago. Something's not right." he rushed.

"Hold on, Vanderflock." Both ducks were surprised when the general walked in.

"But my sister-"

"Knows the risks as do we all. Don't worry, Vanderflock. I will send a team over to check on East side, but we're not going to rush in blind." the general explained.

"I don't know, General. Smells like a trap to draw us out." Canard commented.

"I don't care. My sister's over there." Henry intervened. The radio was on speaker, and they heard a voice break through.

"Henry? Mary?"

"Gerald? We're here, what's going on?" Mary asked, tapping some buttons prior to making the connection.

"Oh good, I thought maybe something was wrong with our radio. We lost connection with East side." Gerald reported.

"So did we." Henry admitted.

"Dammit. What's the plan. We can't just leave them over there with no communications like... uh, well, sitting ducks." Gerald didn't want to make the pun, but it was the only thing that was coming to mind at the moment.

"We'll keep you posted once we come up with a plan." Henry said, switching off his mic. He turned back to the general, an expectant look on his face.

"I don't think their end should do anything, honestly." The general admitted after a moment, "it'd be too risky to send so many ducks over for just an observation and possible rescue mission."

"Thunderbeak?" he turned his attention to Canard. Anna's eyes widened when she saw the general address her brother, "can I count on you to lead this mission?"

"You bet your ass, sir." Canard promised. The general smiled.

"Good. Henry, we're going to go over blue prints for their base and decide our best bet in getting to them without being detected ourselves, if something did go wrong and the saurians did find them." the general explained.

"Yes sir." was all Henry could say.

"Alright. Henry, Canard. I'll let you take two more ducks. Once you decide, we'll head to the briefing room to figure out our plan of action."

"You're not going out there without me!" they all turned with looks of shock to the duck that had remained quiet thus far. Anna was glaring towards her brother.

"Right. Tell me another. You go out there and you'll get yourself killed." the general was blunt.

"I'm not letting him go without me. He's the only family I've got."

"Canard?" McMallard asked, raising an eyebrow in his direction.

"Sis, look- "

"Don't you dare, Canard!" she pointed a finger at him, sensing his tone of voice.

"I'll be back before you know it, I promise." he tried.

"But-"

Suddenly, Henry's comm started beeping.

"What the hell!" he exclaimed, holding up his wrist to look at his comm. "This thing hasn't worked since the first monitor towers landed."

"Answer it." McMallard ordered. Henry flipped the comm open, and his expression switched from worry to relief.

"Henry!" they heard a voice through the comm.

"Tawny! You're alright!" he exclaimed.

"Well, more or less. Listen. The east side base is destroyed. We had to split up and uh, I think Captain RedIce's group got attacked. I finally got ahold of a corporal from his group. She's headed your way now." Tanya explained.

"She?" Henry asked, wondering the name.

"Corporal Lucretia Decoy." Tanya informed. "My group is headed your way too. Shouldn't be too long. Thirty minutes tops." she promised.

"Alright. Just hurry." Henry pleaded.

"You got it, Henry." she promised as her comm cut out.

Henry glanced back at the general.

"Well, looks like we don't need your services after all, Thunderbeak." McMallard was looking at Anna while he said it. "dismissed." the general walked away. Henry went over to let South side know what happened with East side.

"What the hell did you think you were doing!" Canard turned on Anna once the others had left them standing there alone. "Especially with your ankle the way it is!"

It had been determined she had sprained it. It would take at least a couple of weeks to heal and even then might still end up being tender a little while after that.

"Saving your life, fat-head!" she growled, "I can't lose you too!"

"You weren't going to! Believe it or not, I know what I'm doing half the time, Annie!" he got up in her face, "why can't you trust me to make the right decisions?"

"Okay then, change perspectives... General McMallard tells me to go on a mission, but not you. You're now the civilian and I'm the trained military personal. You can't go. What do you do, Canard?" she asked, raising an eyebrow.

"I follow my commanding officer's orders! As would you." he growled at her.

"Yeah, I guess you would." she muttered darkly. She stood up, grabbed her crutches, and limped down the hall.

* * *

Anna sat at a table in the mess hall, drinking some water while sitting next to Trent.

"Anna?" she turned away from the voice. Trent looked worried as Canard walked up to their table.

"Anna, please look at me." he pleaded. She didn't oblige. "I'm really sorry. I wasn't thinking." he tried. Anna looked at him, or more so glared up at him.

"Canard, I can't handle it! First dad, then Mom. I couldn't handle it if something happened to you too... I'd never forgive myself." she admitted as tears stung her eyes. He sat down next to her, pulling her into his arms.

"I understand your concern, sis. But I'm trained, and trained well. You're a civilian. Don't you think I'd be safer out there without needing to worry about you at the same time?" he tried. She nodded slowly.

"Thunderbeak." McMallard came walking up. Canard stood and saluted.

"Tanya Vanderflock's team and Corporal Decoy have made it back." he announced.

"That's good news, sir." Canard said.

"Yes. Vanderflock and Decoy were going to share their experiences with us if you cared to join."

"Yeah, sure." Canard said, going to follow the general. "You coming, Annie?" he asked, looking back.

"Can a civilian hear experiences from military personal?" she sneered.

"Boy, she's not gonna let that go anytime soon..." McMallard muttered before clearing his throat, "yes, young Thunderbeak. You may join us in the mess hall. And, if you'd like, I'll make Tim train you once that ankle of yours is healed."

Her eyes went wide at this info as she hopped up and grabbed her crutches.

"Did he just offer what I think he offered?" she asked Canard, a look of hope in her eyes. Canard partly smiled at Anna.

"I think he did. He must see potential in you." he mused as they walked down the hall. The general led them to the front of the briefing room. Everyone from the base was in the room and Canard shuddered, seeing how little their numbers were.

They sat down in the front. Tanya stood there, her hands folded behind her back.

"Go ahead Tanya." McMallard said, taking a seat. She nodded, taking a step sideways so she was more center.

"I'm not much for public speaking but uh, you know, here it goes." she cleared her throat, "so, the underground tunnel that led here from our base collapsed. We had to travel above ground to get here. There, uh, there are monitor towers everywhere up there. We had to split up into two groups. Sadly, only one member of the other group made it." Tanya backed up, giving a duck with purple hair the floor.

 _she must be corporal Lucretia decoy._ Anna thought.

"It was terrible," she started, "The saurians have hunter drones roaming the streets. 4 or 5 hunter drones surrounded us. Somehow I was able to back away from the crowd and hide. Then, an actual saurian appeared. This saurian, he was big and bulky. He asked who the captain of the group was. RedIce stepped forward and the orange one lowered RedIce to his knees before... before shooting him executioner style." Gasps echoed in the room, "the sad part is, RedIce was the lucky one. I heard the saurian command the hunter drones to take the rest of the ducks to a slave camp." Lucretia was barely understood as she started crying. Tanya comforted Lucretia, leading her back to her chair.

"Why are they enslaving us?" Jerry piped up from his spot.

"Still hasn't been determined." The general admitted from his seat.

* * *

"Expand his operation to the whole galaxy?" Nosedive asked.

"That's what I heard the others saying about this guy; Dragaunus." Wildwing whispered from his spot.

"Why would he do that?" Nosedive asked, "I thought Ducaine was the only one to fight back against the saurians. What have any of the other planets done?" Nosedive asked.

"You're missing the point, Dive. He's powerpound. He'll start with Puckworld and then once one planet is enslaved, it'll be all too easy to go from there." Wildwing explained.

"Hey, quiet down over there!" a green saurian shouted in their direction. Nosedive shivered and Wildwing scooted closer to him, curling himself around his little brother. They waited for the lizard to pass by. Right now, it was "sleep time". Tomorrow, they'd be doing Dragaunus' bidding. At least they were getting fed, barely. He and Dive had each been given a blanket, but it might as well been a leaf, the amount of good it was doing. He threw part of his blanket over Dive's shoulder. He found himself thinking about their parents. Ducaine willing, they made it out ok. He hoped and prayed that somehow, their parents didn't end up getting enslaved the way he and Dive had.

"Wildwing, are we gonna die?" he was pulled from his thoughts, and he met Dive's gaze. He hadn't seen his little brother look this young in some time.

"Course not, baby bro. I promise you, I won't let that happen."


	17. Chapter 17

Anna stood ready, her hand at her side, ready to reach to her puck launcher if needed. Her sabre rested on her shoulder. A hunter drone popped up in front of her, and she moved right, rolling across her shoulder and coming back up to a lunge, firing her puck launcher at the drone, taking it out. Two more appeared and she fired on them skillfully, taking them out in seconds. She stood there in the dust, standing ever ready. A circle of hunter drones rose from the ground, surrounding her. She smirked, reaching for her blade and, ducking to avoid their fire, swished the blade around, taking them all out in nearly a single swipe. Suddenly, ten rose from the ground and she looked pleasantly shocked. She ducked around them, taking them out one by one. She headed for the last one standing, but came down wrong on her ankle. She gritted her teeth as her wrong footing caused her to fall. The hunter drone went to fire on her but she dropped her sabre, pulling out her puck launcher and firing at it.

"Not bad." came a voice over the speakers. The doors to the simulation room opened and Tim walked in, holding out his hand. She took it, standing up. She tried not to show it, but he could tell she was babying the one ankle.

"Anna-"

"Don't say it, Tim. I'm ready to get out there! I've been patient. I've let Canard go on scouts by himself. I'm ready to get out there and watch his back."

"Anna, it's not just about you watching your brother's back. You go out there, he's watching your back too." he explained.

"of course he is. He's my brother, what else would he be doing?" she asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Anna. I'm sorry, I can't clear you with your ankle the way it is." he said, his word final.

"Come on, Tim. I was able to take care of myself, even after I went down on the ground." she argued.

"Stand down, rookie. My report is final." Tim went from being a family friend back to his military attitude, and she knew there was no persuading him.

"Yes sir." she muttered as he turned and walked out. She followed behind, limping only slightly.

* * *

Canard walked in from patrol as she walked out of the simulation room.

"Hey, sis. How'd it go?" he asked, running up.

"Take a wild guess." she muttered, rolling her eyes.

"Your ankle still acting up?" he asked.

"It's been two months. How long does it take for a stupid sprain to heal?" she asked him irritably.

"Sis, it was a bad sprain. They hurt for a while." he tried.

"Well, it can stop now. I'm over it." she groaned. He laughed lightly at his sister, wrapping an arm around her shoulders.

"Hey babe." they both looked to the right where Trent was walking from. He took Canard's place, wrapping his arms around Anna.

"Hey."

"You cleared yet?" he asked. She shook her head.

"No. They won't let me go out with my ankle still injured." she muttered.

"You seem to be walking just fine." he muttered.

"Yeah, but out there she'd be running, jumping, climbing... everything she can't do very well right now because of her ankle." Canard argued.

"I think she can do it." Trent supported Anna, receiving a smile from her.

"See, he thinks I can do it." she smirked, walking away from the two drakes. Trent went to follow, but Canard grabbed him and slammed him against the wall.

"Look, I know you love to make Anna happy by kissing ass."

"Wait, Canard-"

"No, you wait Trent."

"But-"

"I know you love talking Anna up, putting these ideas in her head that she can do anything..." Trent opened his mouth but Canard stopped him, "don't get me wrong, I believe she can do anything as much as anybody. I'm her brother for ducaine's sake. But I also believe her body needs time to heal." he said crossly.

"So, how about the next idea you put in her head doesn't give her a one way ticket to getting herself killed!" he growled.

"Yes sir." Trent nodded as he gulped.

"Good. Glad we understand each other." Canard said, letting Trent go. Trent dropped to the ground and quickly scurried away in the direction Anna had gone. Canard sighed. Maybe he shouldn't have pushed Anna to stay with Trent.

He rubbed his head, turning towards his bunk. He had earned some R&R.

* * *

Canard fell out of bed, feeling the ground shake beneath him.

"What the hell?" he wondered as he stood up, running out of the door to his room. He saw Anna down the hall and ran over to her as dirt shook from the ceiling. He grabbed onto her arm, dragging her towards the tunnels.

"Canard, what's going on!" she asked.

"We're under attack!" General McMallard shouted from behind. They entered the tunnel, but Anna heard something beeping. She stopped. Canard and the General stopped running, looking back at her.

"Do you guys hear that?" a bunch of ducks were shoving around them, but the general suddenly tuned into what she heard.

"Everybody out of the tunnel!" he commanded, shoving her and Canard out of the tunnel. The tunnel blew and Anna screamed as she and Canard flew back.

"McMallard!" she screamed, looking up. His upper torso was sticking out from under a pile of rubble.

"General!" Canard exclaimed.

"You two need to get out now. Head for South base. My son and daughter are there." the general quickly gasped out.

"But-"

"Get out now!" the general growled as his head fell back.

"Oh my god." Anna muttered. Canard shook his head, coming to his senses as more of the ceiling fell around them.

"Let's get out of here, Anna." he commanded, heading for the outside. The remaining ducks from the collapse circled up around Canard. He looked at them, recognizing all but a couple.

"Tanya, you remember how to get to South side?" he asked. she shook her head.

"Down this way." he pointed, "if you turn down Slate at the corner of 4th, it's at the end of that road." he explained. He noticed everyone else listening intently.

"Take a group and head that way. I'll take a group and head there in a different direction." he said.

"Hell no, Canard. This time we stick together." she growled at him, "last time my commanding officer said to split up, I got to hear that he was shot in the back of the head." she sneered. His eyes went wide before he considered this.

"Fine, we travel together." he decided, taking off for South base. He found himself running, wanting to get there as fast as possible.

"Canard, those bombs were set up inside the base." Anna informed.

"I know, Anna." he muttered.

"What does that mean?" she asked, glancing behind her to the ducks.

"It means, there is a traitor among us." he said, stopping the group of ducks that followed him.

"Come on." he ushered the group into the alley and waited for the last duck to straggle in before he and Anna joined them.

"Canard, what are we doing?" Tim asked, leaning against the wall. Canard didn't answer him, trailing his eyes across the group.

"Someone has betrayed us." was all he said. Some ducks gasped. Others just looked genuinely surprised. His eyes trailed over the ducks.

"Tim, Roger, Kim. Stand by me." he said. "Henry, Tanya." he motioned for them to join him as well. "Trent..." he trailed off as Trent came to stand by Anna. His eyes trailed over the remaining ducks.

Lucretia, some kid named Jerry...

"Mary, stand by me." he ordered. He knew there was no way she would be involved with the tunnel blast. Even if she had, she would have made sure the general was far away from the tunnel when it blew. McMallard's weren't exactly the traitorous sort. As she came to stand by him, he saw she was silently crying, and Henry wrapped an arm around her shoulders comfortingly.

 _let's see... who else probably isn't guilty_ he actually already had a pretty good idea of who had done it, but he was having fun freaking the Jerry guy out. He could see the kid sweating.

"Anna, any guesses?" he asked, waving his hand to the remaining ducks. She walked forward, her hands behind her back, examining the ducks that stood there. Two more red heads who looked like twins and McMallards stood there. They were standing at attention, even though they looked sullen.

"You two, state your names and ranks." she ordered.

"1st Lieutenant Malachi McMallard!" said one.

"2nd Lieutenant Marcus McMallard!" said the other.

"I've got an idea if you've got an idea." she confirmed, turning and walking back to Canard's side.

"I've got a pretty good idea too." Tanya piped up and Canard turned around.

"I knew you would. The traitor was there for the first base's destruction. This traitor has managed to be the lone survivor more than once already. And I'm sure she was already making plans to be the only survivor yet again." his eyes rested on Lucretia and she shrunk back.

"What, me?" she asked.

"Oh, don't play innocent with me." he growled at her, "I don't know how you can even live with yourself."

"Survival of the fittest, babe." she smirked, pushing a button on a foreign communicator. Canard saw what she was doing and jumped for her but was too late as she disappeared in a green light.

"Shit." he muttered, standing back up.

"Come on, let's get back to South base, unless anyone else is planning on betraying their own race." he looked over the ducks in his group. He trusted these ducks, or at least most of these ducks, with his life. As they took off walking, he saw the McMallard twins surround their sister and he sighed. So many families were being broken because of this treacherous lizard.

They trudged through the city, avoiding detection. The wind whipped around them, and Anna leaned into Canard's side.

"You doing alright, sis?" he asked.

"Just a little cold." she muttered.

"You're always cold." he sighed, wrapping his arm around her as the trudged forward.

"Shit." Tanya said suddenly and Canard turned back.

"What is it, Tanya?" he asked, meeting her gaze.

"Lucretia was listening when you gave directions to the South base!" she exclaimed. Canard's face dropped as he opened his comm.

"McMallard! Major McMallard!" he tried through his comm.

"What's going on?" came the response.

"Miles, our base got destroyed. We had a traitor in our midst. I think she might know where your base is. Get out, now!" he ordered.

"Where are we supposed to go? West and South were the last ones." Miles responded.

"Head to the North base."

"The North? But that base hasn't been used since the 30's!" Miles exclaimed.

"Exactly. They won't know where to find us. Get your group out now!" Canard ordered again. There was a ruckus on the other side of the comm and Miles let out a yell as the comm went dead.

"Miles? Miles!" he called into the comm. Anna grabbed his arm, looking up at him.

"Come on, bro. If he gets out, he'll know where to lead his team. Let's get our team to the base." she tried. He sighed, shutting the comm.

"Yeah, alright." he muttered, steering his course to head for the North base.


	18. Chapter 18

Canard was pleasantly surprised when Miles' group rolled in, almost 2 hours later. Some of the ducks were injured and Canard ordered Henry to go have a look and see what he could do. Since Tanya had helped Henry with his homework when he had attended med school, she knew some medical things as well and acted as his assistant.

Once everyone had kind of settled in, Canard found himself standing in front of the ducks of the mess hall.

"This is it." he announced, "we're all that's left of the military."

He looked out over the rows of ducks and sighed.

"And that means we don't have the luxury of giving up, or quitting now." he said suddenly. The ducks looked up to him. "We aren't just fighting some raptrin tyrant. Now, we're facing a bigger threat. A threat upon our very existence! If we fail, our whole planet fails and the saurians win. So, we will stand and fight to the last breath. We will not give up and will fight this saurian in everyway we know how." he promised.

"We can't do anything until we have a leader." Roger muttered from his spot. Murmurs of agreement ripped through the crowd.

"I nominate Canard!" Henry yelled and a huge group of cheers echoed in the mess hall.

"What?" he asked, glancing around.

"Well sure. You've gotten us this far, haven't you?" Henry asked, standing up. He went and stood by Canard, placing an arm around his shoulders, "I'd follow this guy into battle any day." he added.

"Any other nominations?" Canard tried. The mess hall was silent. He met another McMallard's gaze. she was the general's only other daughter; Mallory. She rolled her eyes, looking away from him.

"It's settled, Canard is now the leader of the military!" Henry exclaimed.

"No, not the military." Miles said from his spot. "this is now a fight for survival. This, is a resistance." he announced.

"I have one request if you are to have me as your leader." Canard said before anyone could start talking.

"What is it?" Henry asked.

"I want Anna as my second in command." he demanded. Her eyes went wide at this but she remained silent.

"Picking family over skill, really Thunderbeak?" came the snarky response from Mallory.

"She has more skill than you would believe, Mallory." he shot back at her.

"Let's see it, then!" she challenged, leaning forward.

"Alright, Mallory, ease off." Miles said, pushing her gently back in her chair.

"Any other retaliations?" he asked, glancing around. Nobody made a sound and he nodded.

"Good, then Anna is my second. If anything is to happen to both of us, I want Miles to be in charge." he said, pointing to the McMallard. He nodded, showing he would except the responsibility.

"So, what are we going to do now?" came a call from the small crowd. Canard couldn't quite place where it came from, though he was sure it was one of the Lyghtenwing brothers.

"We rest up for the night. Tomorrow, we'll talk plans to take our world back from this monster."

* * *

 _August 1996_

Anna found herself following Canard back to the base. It'd been almost 8 months since the invasion had started, and so much had changed yet so much had remained the same. Her and Trent were still together. Kim and Canard were still together as well. Ever since the military bases were destroyed, her and Canard had been causing Dragaunus trouble as often as they could. At the moment, they were on their way back from twin beaks. They'd found the mask of Drake Ducaine, and Canard had even tried it on and pinpointed the exact location of Dragaunus' master tower. It was protected by an invisible shield, but the mask could see through it. He told Anna the tower was North of the base, which made sense for it to be there so nobody would stumble upon it who wasn't supposed to.

Canard and Anna hopped back into the base, closing the lid to the sewers behind them.

"Any luck?" Henry was the first one to come running up to greet them. Canard nodded and Henry smiled.

"He really existed then." Henry said.

"You still doubted it?" Anna asked with a smirk, "even after getting invaded because of what he supposedly did to this guy's ancestors, you still doubted he ever existed?"

"Hey, you're right. Still though, I must say I was skeptical you'd find it." he admitted. Canard just smirked.

"So, now what?" he asked, glancing at Canard's pouch on his belt where he was sure he was keeping the mask.

"Now, I form my team to take out Dragaunus once and for all." Canard promised.

* * *

Canard woke with a start and pulled on his gear. Kim stirred next to him.

"Canard?" she asked.

"Shh, go back to sleep. Just going out on night patrol." he shushed. She nodded, rolling back over.

He finished getting ready, slapping on his wrist comm and exited out of his and Kim's bunk. He ran up to Anna's door, about to knock but stopped as the door opened. Her long brown hair was up in a pony tail. He looked past her, seeing Trent in her bed. She shoved past him, allowing the door to close.

"Where to?" she asked as he fell into step with her.

"We're heading towards 5th and Blaine. There's been talk of a slave camp that way." She stopped for a second before continuing on.

* * *

Anna and Canard slunk around an alleyway, coming up to a fence. They caught the attention of a practically withering female. Canard looked past her. The ducks in here looked so weak. The girl walked over and Canard realized she couldn't be much older than Anna. His heart fell at the thought.

"Hi, what's your name?" he asked.

"Liz." she said simply, her voice cracking. She cleared her throat a little.

"Please, Liz. Have you seen these two ducks?" Canard pulled out a picture that had been taken on his and Wing's move in day when they became roommates in college. Once again, their mother had insisted on throwing Nosedive and Anna in the picture so it was a picture of all 4 ducks.

The girl looked at the picture and glanced up at the two obvious siblings.

"I think I recognize them. His feathers aren't exactly white anymore." she muttered, pointing to Wildwing's white plumage. "They're more grey now." she explained.

"Can you get them for me" he asked. She shook her head.

"I'm sorry. The saurians moved them to the other end of the camp. It's heavily guarded. I think they're being moved in the morning. Over to the western camp."

"Oh no." Canard murmured.

"What is it?" Anna asked, sensing his worry.

"They're being moved to the mining camp." Canard informed.

"Mining camp?" Anna asked. Canard nodded.

"He's making ducks mine for beryllium crystals in the mountains. He runs everything off of them." Canard informed.

"I think they head out around daybreak. It'll be around 6 or 7." Liz said.

"Thanks." Canard said, running back down the alleyway. Anna gave one last look to Liz before following Canard.

"What's the plan, bro?" she asked, catching up to him.

"We're busting them out of there." he promised, rounding the corner. She stopped for a second, looking after him.

"How?"


	19. Chapter 19

The line of ducks marched forward, almost all were wearing a sullen look the whole way.

"Dive, what are we gonna do?" Wing asked, glancing back to Dive. This was the first time he and Dive had been "moved" from one camp to the next, and he was looking for a hole to escape. But if they did escape, where would they go? Dragaunus practically had control of the whole planet.

"I hear ya, bro." Dive said, "I mean, we keep hearing about the resistance but, where are they?" he asked.

"I don't know." Wildwing sounded absolutely defeated. "Maybe they're just a legend, like Drake Ducaine." he stopped walking, feeling his legs give up once his head decided to give up, "it's hopeless. We don't stand a chance." he shook his head.

A hand appeared from the alleyway they were stopped by and grabbed Wildwing, dragging him in. Dive looked shocked before being pulled in himself.

"Annie!" he exclaimed, pulling her into a hug.

"Canard!" Wildwing exclaimed just the same, hugging his best friend, "where have you been all these months?"

"We're part of what's left of the military, in the new resistance." Canard explained.

"The resistance, it really exists!" Wildwing and Nosedive shot excited glances at each other. Canard nodded.

"I'm organizing a team of our best special forces, and a few civilians we've had our eyes on, like you." he pointed to Wildwing.

"We're gonna take out Dragaunus." Canard explained, drawing his thumb across his neck. Wildwing felt his hope disappear once again.

"How? No one's ever even seen him." he muttered, putting his hands in his pocket and turning away from Canard.

"I found it Wildwing." Wildwing looked back at his friend with curiosity. "In an ancient tomb in the mountains they call Twin Beaks. The mask." he pulled the goalie mask from his pouch, "Drake Ducaine's mask."

Dive went towards Canard, leaning towards the mask. "didn't I tell ya man! Was Drake Ducaine the main duck, or what?" he asked, reaching for the mask. Canard pulled it back out of the teenager's reach.

"Beat it kid, before you get us all into trouble." he growled. Anna shot him a hard look and Wildwing glared.

"No." he walked over, putting his arm around Dive's shoulders. "if you want me, than my brother's part of the deal." Canard raised an eyebrow.

"Okay, but you're responsible for the kid's safety." he said, pointing.

"Alright bro!" Dive exclaimed. Anna walked over next to the brothers and Dive put his arm around Anna's shoulders.

"Let's go kick some ass, Annie!" he exclaimed and she just smiled at him, shaking her head.

* * *

"You sure you know where you're going?" Canard asked as they trekked the sewers. Dive had already made many complaints of the smell, but Canard and Anna were already so used to it, they couldn't smell what he did.

"Kind of. I know how to get to the corner of Higgens and South Ave above ground, but the sewers are a little tricky." she muttered, her flashlight on her blueprints as she led the way.

"How do we know he's even going to be there?" Dive asked skeptically.

"He'll be there. The crazy mother fucker's been fighting Dragaunus himself for months, so we know he's still alive." Anna muttered.

"Wait, how do you know he's been fighting Dragaunus for months?" Wildwing asked. Anna smirked.

"How do you think the refugees are getting their food? They describe the group of ducks that deliver the food. They keep to themselves but are always led by a duck in a maroon jumpsuit, a golden sabre and an eyepatch with a chip in his beak." she gave them a knowing look, "hard not to make the connection once you hear that." she muttered.

"Refugees?" Wildwing asked, a little unsettled. Anna nodded.

"Since the invasion, the sewer systems have been down so water no longer flows through them. There are little areas and spots in the sewers where we've set up refugee camps. It's not the nicest place, but it's the only place we can put them. We can't very well take them back to the resistance camp. We get one more traitor on our hands, and the resistance is history." Canard muttered.

"Traitor?" Wildwing asked. Anna rolled her eyes.

"Corporal Lucretia Decoy. She sold out the military bases, got a lot of ducks killed, nearly wiped out the resistance." Anna explained before she stopped walking.

"What's up, sis?" Canard asked.

"Well, fathead, give me a boost and I'll see what's up... there." she said, pointing to the lid above them. Canard bent down to one knee and put one hand on top of the other. She put her foot in his hands, leaning on his shoulders as he stood up, letting her grab onto the wiring that acted as a ladder protruding from the wall. Many of them had been broken off so there were really only a couple of rungs left hanging off the wall. She crawled up and slowly lifted the lid, to keep from making more noise than she had to. She slid the lid half way off and looked out.

"What do you see?" Nosedive called up, receiving a glare from Canard.

"If something was over us up there, Anna would be dead because of your big mouth!" he growled at the teenager. Nosedive shrunk back but Canard didn't say any more because of the hard stare he had received from Wildwing.

"Come on up." she called, glancing back down. Canard lifted Nosedive and Wildwing up the same way as before and Wildwing turned back to help Canard up. They all climbed out, glancing around.

"not bad." Canard muttered, looking at the sign that said 2nd and South. They were only a couple of more blocks away. Anna smirked at him before she took off down the road.

"Come on, we're not there yet." she muttered, coming up to the side of a building. She looked around the corner and slammed herself back against the wall, holding up a fist for Canard and the other two to stop. She peeked back around to see 6 hunter drones surrounding a duck, one bigger than she had yet to ever see before.

"There's a duck surrounded back there." she whispered to Canard, pointing.

"How many assailants?" Canard asked. Anna glanced back around the wall and then back at him. "About six." she informed. Canard sighed, glancing back at Wildwing and Nosedive.

"I'm sorry, I don't have a weapon for you guys." he muttered.

"Stay here." Anna ordered them, checking her launcher to make sure it was fully loaded.

"Canard, go left." Anna ordered, whipping around the corner and heading right. Canard followed suit, going left and Nosedive leaned forward to look around the corner. Wildwing grabbed onto Nosedive's shoulder, just in case his brother thought he was following the Thunderbeaks into battle.

"When did Anna start barking orders?" Dive asked, looking back at Wildwing.

Anna whipped out her sabre. The hunter drone didn't sense her right away so she was able to take it out easily. Another that was closer to the giant duck started firing on her. She tucked and rolled, whipping out her puck launcher and firing on it. She gritted her teeth as a blast scraped her upper arm at about the time she took down the drone. Canard took down another on his own side, and he hadn't been seen coming because of the distraction Anna had given. The other three drones were nearly instantly taken out by this duck they had happened upon. He took them out simply by punching them all once. Anna's eyes was wide as she came to stand in front of him. The duck looked at his fist after punching the last one.

"Pain is an illusion." he muttered before gritting in pain, grabbing his hand, "an illusion that really really hurts."

"Grin!" Canard exclaimed upon seeing him.

"You know this guy?" Anna asked, unsure, as she dug around in her bag.

"Yeah, sure. We were in the same writing class in college!" Canard exclaimed, seeming to be excited upon happening on this duck, "I thought you might be dead!" Canard admitted to Grin.

"Even death is not to be feared by one who has lived wisely." came Grin's reply. Anna looked confused at him before turning back to her arm, wrapping the gauze around it.

"That's just the way he talks." Canard explained, shrugging it off. "Wing, get out here!" he called. The brothers came around the corner to stand with the group.

"This is the guy I told you about! From my writing class!" Canard explained to Wildwing.

"Uh, nice to meet you." Wing said, not forgetting his manners.

"An invisible thread connects those who are destined to meet, regardless of time, place or circumstance. The thread may stretch or tangle, but it will never break." came Grin's response. Now Wlidwing had the same look on his face as Anna did. Nosedive just grinned like a fool. He already really liked this duck.

"That's uh... that's just how he says it's nice to meet you too." Canard translated. He turned back to Grin.

"Grin, I'm actually glad I found you." Canard said, "we might need your help. We're the new resistance. I'm organizing a group of special forces to go in and take him out... we could really use a duck with your skill." Canard said briefly what he told Wildwing before.

"Dragaunus is a tyrant and a fiend." Grin said, "The journey of a thousand miles must begin with a single step."

Everyone looked at him for a second and Grin sighed.

"Of course I will help." he said simply.

"Woohoo!" Nosedive cheered, "now that I understood!" he said, high fiving Anna. She smiled at him before glancing back at Canard.

"Alright, let's get going." she ordered, taking off in the direction they had been heading before running into Grin. "the warehouse is literally around this..." she rounded the corner and stopped. Canard bumped into her. "corner." she muttered softly, seeing the corner the warehouse was supposed to be on.

The warehouse lay in shambles. Some crates were still stacked in the debris that she could see and Canard looked down.

"I'm sorry, Annie. I know-"

"shush." she ordered, cutting Canard off as she crawled over the debris.

"Anna, he's not here anymore." Canard insisted. "He'll have already moved on by now, you'll never find him." he insisted.

"He didn't live in the warehouse, Canard." she said, reaching the back left corner. She pulled some tin roofing away from the corner and found exactly what she was looking for. She lifted the trap door and turned back to Canard, "he lived beneath it."

She held the door open as the group jumped down before she followed them.

"Um, Anna?" Nosedive said in the darkness.

"Oh shut up." came the sassy reply as her flashlight clicked on. Once again, they were in a tunnel underground. It wasn't very long though, and they only walked about ten feet before coming up to a large metal door.

Anna tried the door, trying to shove it open. It was locked from the inside.

* * *

Everyone stopped what they were doing as a jiggling at the main door was heard. Then, a knock was heard, loud and crisp.

"What the hell?" Darren's eyebrow raised as he turned to Duke's bedroom.

"Are we missing anybody?" Jake asked from where he stood next to his sister. Darren shook his head, nodding to Duke's room. "Go get Duke." he ordered. Jake ran off to do what was asked.

Duke was out of his room in seconds, walking over to join Darren.

"What's going on? Who's at the door?" he asked. Darren shrugged. Duke drew his sabre, heading for the door. Darren and Jake were right on his tail, just in case. Everyone seemed to hold their breath as Duke went over to the window, sliding it open. Duke sheathed his sabre, putting it back on his shoulder. He slid the metal window shut and opened the door instantly.

"Anna!" he exclaimed as the female jumped into his arms. He took her into his arms, holding her close. Canard, Wildwing, Nosedive and Grin piled into the door after her.

"Anna?" Jake asked from where he stood.

"Jake!" Nosedive and Anna exclaimed at the same time, hugging him. Jess pushed through the crowd, joining the group in a hug. Anna turned back to Duke, hugging him again.

"I missed you!" she admitted as he held her close once again.

"I missed you too, sweetheart. Glad to see the ankle's better." he commented. He had honestly been worried, and had actually followed her and Trent until they entered the sewers the last day he had seen her. He convinced himself she'd be safe in the sewers and prayed she'd end up finding her brother. Obviously, his prayers had been answered.

"It took for fucking ever to heal." she admitted, looking down at it. He smirked before he looked at her with worry.

"What?" she asked. He reached over to her arm, seeing blood seep through the gauze.

"What the hell happened?" he asked.

"It's just a scrape." she insisted.

"Scrape my ass. I smell the singed feathers, Anna." he retorted.

"Darren..." Darren looked up, "run and get me the first aid kit." he said. Canard walked up behind her and looked at her arm too.

"It's really fine." she said, jerking her arm away from the two drakes.

"Understanding is the first step to acceptance, and only with acceptance can there be recovery." Grin said as he walked up.

"What?" she asked, eyeing him.

"These ducks care about you. Once you accept that, and let them help, you can be healed." he clarified. She rolled her eyes, not fully understanding what the duck was getting at, but held her arm out anyways once Darren brought the first aid kit over. She gritted her teeth when Duke sprayed the anti-septic on it, but still held her arm out as he bandaged it properly.

"There, happy?" she asked.

"Yeah, thanks for asking Sweetheart." came the snide remark from Duke. "So what are you doing down here? I'm guessing this isn't a social visit." he said, getting down to business. She sighed,

"No, it's not. We're forming a team to take out Dragaunus," she motioned to her and Canard, "and we were wondering if you'd like to join the resistance."

* * *

 _Author's note: Totally not going to lie, I was worried when I introduced Grin. I wanted to catch how he talks all the freaking time in the show just right. So, to be honest, as I was writing I kept looking up zen quotes that would fit the situation. Might have overdone it, but... eh. I was also going to put him on the hockey team with Canard and Wildwing in college but then realized that I wanted just Canard to know him from before the war. It made more sense, considering Wildwing still has a hard time understanding Grin, even half way through the series... like in Human factor..._

 _Wildwing: You mind skipping a roadtrip and staying with Tanya?_

 _Grin: the paths are many, but the journey remains the same._

 _Wildwing: I'll take that as a yes_

 _Like, when Wildwing says this, he's totally not indicating in anyway that he understood Grin. I liked the idea of Canard knowing him, because somebody had to to get him on the team, but Wildwing not knowing him simply because if Wildwing did know Grin before the war, he'd probably have a hell of a lot more of an easier time trying to understand exactly what this duck is trying to convey when he talks... like himself._

 _Anywho, as you can tell we've officially entered the first episode. I feel like I'm flying on this simply because I'm super excited to get to the episodes, the drama with a certain earthling, and other such things. I actually have the rest of this story written out in a notebook so now it's just getting it all typed out, adding bits where I didn't feel like writing out a whole idea at the time, etc. etc._

 _Thanks for sticking with me if you've stuck with me thus far and I'll get back to writing!_


	20. Chapter 20

"Take out Dragaunus?" Jess asked behind Duke. Anna nodded.

"You bet your ass I'm in." she insisted.

"Jess, what are you doing?" Jake asked, pulling on her arm.

"I'm standing up to the monster that took over our planet. What are you doing?" she retorted, jerking away from her brother.

"Trying to stay alive. You should be doing the same." he muttered.

"you wanna stay alive, this is how you do it." Jess insisted, turning back to Anna.

Anna glanced at Canard and he sighed out before giving her a slight nod. The siblings hadn't said anything, but lately they really didn't need to speak to be able to communicate.

"Duke?" he whipped his head around to a female duck who had the same exact color of feathers as him. Her mane was long and black and she had green eyes.

"What's up, Mia?" he asked.

"Are you really going to go with them?" she asked him timidly. He nodded.

"I've gotta do this, Mia. I've gotta help take that tyrant down once and for all." he insisted. She nodded, jumping into his arms in a hug.

"Be safe." she demanded. He nodded into her mane.

"I promise, kid." he said, pulling out of the hug. Another duck walked up at that moment. He looked just like Duke, just maybe five years younger. Duke hugged the younger drake as well.

"Take care of your sister." he ordered.

"Yes sir." came the response as they pulled apart.

Duke glanced over at Darren, and the two drakes looked at each other for a moment before instantaneously hugging.

"I'm sticking you in charge, Darren. Keep my brother and sister out of trouble, will ya?" he asked. Darren chuckled.

"That's gonna be a tall order. They take after you, remember?" Darren grinned. Duke rolled his eyes playfully at his best friend.

"You know what I mean." came his sassy retort as he turned back to Anna, Canard and their group. He wasn't sure exactly which Thunderbeak was in charge, though he had assumed Canard was.

"You ready?" Anna asked. Duke nodded. She glanced at Canard who nodded as well.

"Alright, let's head for home." she said, rounding up her troops and heading out the door. Jake stood there for a second, watching his sister walk away with the group.

"Well, shit." he muttered, taking off out the door. He didn't want to fight, but lord knows he couldn't let his sister go without him.

* * *

Anna and Canard led the small group back towards the resistance base.

"Guess we're not going back to school anytime soon." Wildwing muttered with a smirk. He was trying to make light of the situation.

"I consider us lucky then!" Nosedive perked up with a grin. Canard shook his head at the teenager's comment, chuckling slightly.

"You've got a funny idea of luck." Canard muttered.

"Shush!" Anna suddenly rushed by them, leaning against the wall of a building. She peered out as the rest of the ducks leaned against the building next to her.

"What is it, sis?" Canard whispered, peering around her shoulder.

"Get back!" she hissed, shoving him back as a hunter drone stomped by.

"Annie?" he asked, unsure of his sister's next move. She peered back around the wall and sighed out.

"The way's congested." she explained.

"Can't we just, you know, go around?" Nosedive asked. Another drone walked by and they pressed back against the wall. She cocked her head sideways at him.

"Negative." she sighed out.

"What are we going to do?" Jake asked, his eyes betraying his worry.

"Canard, wasn't there a sewer entrance back there?" Anna asked suddenly, her head perking up. He nodded.

"Yeah, but the tunnel leading back to the base is collapsed." he reminded her. She waved her hand at him dismissively.

"Details, Canard. Details." she muttered as they heard a hunter drone approaching their alley. She motioned for them to follow her back.

"You have a plan." Duke said, falling into step with her as they retraced their steps back to the entrance of the sewer. She lifted the lid off the hole and looked back at him.

"I might." she said, motioning for him to jump down. The others followed him, and Anna was the last one, closing the lid behind her.

"Okay, can someone at least turn on a light or something?" Nosedive muttered in the new darkness. The flick of a match was heard, and a tiny flame lit up the ducks in the sewer. Duke held the match closer to Anna as she rummaged in her pack for a flashlight. Once she flicked the flashlight on, Duke waved the match out.

"Canard." Anna beckoned him over. He knew what she wanted and turned around so she could get into his bag. She pulled out rolled up blueprints. She opened them part of the way before glancing around her.

"Ah!" she found what she was looking for, turning Nosedive around.

"What?" he asked as he turned around. He realized what she was doing once he felt the paper on his back. She had been looking for a table.

"Alright..." she trailed off, looking around again. She saw Duke and pulled his arms, positioning him behind her, and sticking the flash light in his hands. Knowing what she wanted, he moved in closer, pressing against her back with his body, shining the light on the blueprints. She fought the blush of feeling him against her. They had work to do.

Canard stood beside her as she traced her finger over the city sewer blueprints.

"Alright, this is where we are now." she said, pointing. She traced her finger to the right. "Here's the base." she tapped a section on Nosedive's back. "and, here's the tunnel that's collapsed." she sighed, tracing an imaginary "x" over a tunnel. "So..." she trailed off, her eyes scanning over the blue map.

"What about this one?" Wildwing pointed from behind her. It went down, but then curved and traveled right. She studied the tunnel for a moment before nodding, a smile creeping across her face.

"Let's give it a shot, Wing." she agreed, glancing towards Canard.

"Let's do it." he agreed, knowing she was searching for his input.

He pulled out his own flashlight, pointing it down the tunnel they'd need to take. Anna waited for the others to follow him as she took up the back of the pack with her own flashlight.

* * *

The ducks finally made it back to the base. Anna hadn't been kidding. Not many ducks sat around. Maybe 20, 30 at the most.

"So, when did Anna get so... bossy?" Wildwing asked Canard as they sat in the mess hall, eating. It was the first time in a long time Wildwing had eaten an actual meal. He didn't know what exactly it was, as it was some sort of "Never expiring military meal", but it tasted so good compared to the shit the saurians had been feeding the slaves.

Canard shrugged, "Probably been a few months now." he muttered.

"Why? What happened?" Wing asked.

"When the bases fell, a uh... a lot of ducks died. When the ducks realized we were hardly a military anymore, they appointed me leader of the resistance. In return, I made Anna my second in command."

"Really?" Wildwing looked surprised.

"Her training has come a long way, and she's my baby sister. I trust her better than anyone." Canard explained.

"So as your second in command, shouldn't she not be going everywhere with you?" he asked skeptically.

"Yeah. It was tough for her at first, especially after mom died. She wouldn't leave my side." Canard explained why Anna seemed to be attached to his hip, "As soon as I told her what it meant for her to be my 2nd in command, she eased up."

"So what was she doing with you today?" Wildwing asked.

"She knew where to find Duke," he looked away, "and she's pretty persistent." he added quickly.

"I thought you said she was doing good not going everywhere with you? You're not making any sense, Canard." Wildwing tried.

"She didn't come for me." he muttered.

"What do you mean?" Wildwing raised an eyebrow.

"I told her I was going to just go by myself to scope out the camps for you and Dive. She heard that and told me she was coming whether I liked it or not. I said, good... we'll pick up Duke on the way." he chuckled at the last part.

Wildwing chuckled too, shaking his head. He really did think of Anna as a little sister, and knowing she had gone with her brother to rescue him and Dive warmed his heart.


	21. Chapter 21

Over the next month, Canard made his plan to take down the master tower. Anna helped him with the plans, and he knew she was preparing to go into the tower with him. He also knew he couldn't let her. If anything happened to him, she needed to be here to be able to lead the next resistance if they failed. They needed his second in command to be there to continue fighting the tyrant. Still, he hadn't quite gotten around to telling her yet.

Instead, he had been keeping himself and her busy training the ducks that had been chosen for the mission. They were training one on one, making sure the team would be ready for anything that might happen while in the tower.

Thus far today, Canard had worked with Mallory and Grin while Anna had worked with Nosedive and Tanya.

Now, Canard was in the training room with Wildwing while Anna was in the training room with Duke.

"So, when are you gonna tell Anna?" Wildwing said behind the shield as pucks bounced off here and there. Canard then sat the pucklauncher down, motioning for Wildwing to step a little closer to him. He pressed a button on a remote and hunter drones appeared around Wildwing. Canard stood behind him, the remote in his hand just in case his friend couldn't handle himself.

"I don't know yet." Canard admitted as Wildwing began to fire upon the drones.

"You've gotta tell her soon. If she thinks..." Wildwing stopped for a second, doing a tuck and roll before coming up behind the hunter drone that had gotten too close for his comfort, and then blasting the hunter drone to bits. He turned back around to another, "If she thinks she's going to the master tower, and you tell her no-"

"I have explained to her that as my second in command, she can't go everywhere with me."

"Well yeah, but how many times have you gone up one on one against Dragaunus?" Wildwing asked, turning back to glance at his friend with a knowing look, before dropping to his knees and sliding beneath a hunter drone, before blasting a puck at it destroying it. Wildwing now stood around a pile of debris.

"None." Canard muttered, beckoning Wildwing over to him, "Come on, let's spar." he said, readying his stance for his best friend. Widlwing followed suit as they started to circle each other.

"Canard, you've gotta tell her before it's too late, and you hurt her." Wildwing said. Canard lunged at him, not because of what he said but for sparring.

"Wildwing, it's a lot harder than you'd think." Canard's voice was strained as the two drakes wrestled.

"I know it's easier said than done, but you've just gotta treat it like ripping a Band-Aid off." Wildwing's voice was just as strained. With that, the conversation was over as they finished their training session.

* * *

Anna stood across from Duke, and he smirked at her. For the last month, Canard had been working with Duke while Anna had been working with Wildwing. Today was the last day of training and for some reason or another, Canard had switched up their training sessions. Probably to see how much Wildwing had learned or something.

"Listen, sweetheart. I'm not sure there's much you'll be able to-" he was cut off as she reached for her puckblaster, firing at him. He acted quick, activating his saber and batting the puck away from him. She was pleased. That's exactly what he was supposed to do and honestly, she had no idea what she would have done had he not acted so quickly.

"Jeez, sweetheart. trying to take the rest of my beak off?" he muttered.

"Why couldn't you have acted that fast the night Falcone attacked you?" she retorted, smirking at him.

"Sorry. I found myself distracted by an angel that night." came the charming remark. She rolled her eyes at him, drawing her blade. He blocked her and through the crossed blades, she smiled at him.

"Alright, Duke L'Orange, let's just see what you're really made of." she provoked, and soon they were circling the room, both having very good hits at each other, but also being able to block said hits. Finally, both fairly out of breath, they stopped. Anna deactivated her saber and Duke did the same. He felt a crazy adrenaline rush. He hadn't actually been able to spar with another blade in a while since it wasn't really Canard's specialty.

"Alright, Sweetheart. What's next?" he asked. She smirked, removing her puck launcher and saber and setting them on the ground. She widened her stance, and put her fists up, beckoning him to come at her.

"Look," he walked over closer to her, "I'm not gonna fight a girl." He went to put a hand on her shoulder, but she grabbed it, flipping him over and onto his back. He gaped at her, and she just smiled at him.

"Didn't seem to stop you a few minutes ago." she shot back at him. He rolled his eyes before doing a hand spring to come back to a standing position. He turned around to face her.

"Alright, sweetheart." he muttered, removing his own puck launcher and saber from his person, "but don't go crying to your brother when I beat you." he smirked. She smirked right back, dodging his kick.

Soon, they were going back and forth, throwing kicks and punches. Anna could tell he was holding back.

"Do you think saurians will hold back?" she finally asked him. He stared at her hard.

"Anna, I don't wanna hurt you." he tried. She swung a right hook, catching him on the side of the face. It caught him off guard and he just looked back up at her, a little shocked.

"There, I hurt you. Now come on, get your payback." she tried. He growled playfully, rushing at her. She hadn't expected it and he grabbed her by the waist, pinning her down to the ground. He got her waist under his, so her lower body was completely immobile. He then grabbed her hands and pinned them above her head. She squirmed beneath him but wasn't able to do anything. She looked up at him in defeat.

"There. Happy, sweetheart?" he asked. She smiled up at him, forgetting about the training session. Her eyes searched the features of his face, and Duke seemed to do the same. He leaned down closer to her and she felt herself gravitating towards him, although she was pinned.

"Duke." her voice seemed to bring him back to his senses and he stopped, instead swinging his leg around to get off of her. She sat up and brought a knee up, leaning on it and looking at him. He sat next to her and cleared his throat, as if he was going to say something. She cut him off, smiling.

"Good session." she said, patting his shoulder. He smiled at her and she leaned into his side, looking up at the training room's ceiling.

"What do you think tomorrow's gonna be like?" she asked him. He shook his head.

"Honestly, sweetheart. I'm a little scared." he admitted. She turned and stared at him hard, and he shrunk back.

"What, a hardened ex-criminal can't admit he's scared."

"No... I just-" she cut herself off, "I just never thought I'd hear you ever admit to such a thing." she said.

"What, you're not scared?" he asked her. She shook her head.

"No, the only thing I'm scared of right now, is losing my brother." she informed, standing up. She held out her hand, helping him up.

"Come on, let's go get Wing and Canard and get some chow." she said as they both walked for the door.

* * *

Wildwing, Canard, Duke and Anna made their way towards the mess hall. Anna was leaning against her brother, tired from the day. Canard had an arm wrapped around her sister. They walked into the mess hall and Canard let out a gasp, stepping in front of Anna, facing her. She tried to look around him but he stopped her.

"What is it Canard?" she asked, looking up at him.

"Wildwing," Canard's teeth were gritted and he was glaring at nothing, "take Anna. I've got a pest to take care of." Wildwing nodded, having seen what Canard had seen. He wrapped his arms around Anna's shoulders as Canard turned around. Duke grabbed onto his arm, stopping him.

"Don't do anything stupid." Duke warned. He too, had seen what Canard had seen.

"I'm not gonna do anything stupid. I'm just gonna go over there, step on his neck, and shoot him in the head."

"Shoot who in the head!" Anna exclaimed. She wriggled out from Wildwing's arms and pushed past Canard. She gasped, tears instantly filling her eyes. There, sitting at a table in the corner, was Trent, making out with another duck.

"Anna-" all anger left his face as he instantly felt sorry for his baby sister. Duke walked forward and Anna turned, falling into his arms, crying. He wrapped his arms around her, consoling her. Canard gritted his teeth once more, turning back to Trent. He went walking off, and Duke and Wing just watched him.

He stormed up to the table, and became even more pissed when the two ducks making out didn't even recognize he had walked up. He slammed a fist on the table, startling them. Trent looked up, his eyes going wide.

"Canard, I-" Canard drug him by his shirt, standing him up.

"What the hell do you think you're doing!" he growled at Trent.

"I-" he was cut off as Canard punched him in the face, knocking him to the ground. All the ducks around them were quiet, watching the scene play out.

"Please don't tell Anna." Trent pleaded, laying on the ground.

"I don't have to." he sneered, pointing across the way. Trent looked to see Anna crying while Duke and Wildwing consoled her.

"But-"

"Look Trent, as far as the resistance goes, you're a good soldier and I'm not going to throw you on the streets, though Ducaine knows I should. But as far as we go, you're done with my family. Even look at Anna in the future, it'll be the last thing you ever do." His voice was dark and Trent gulped, nodding.

"Yes sir." he nodded.

"Good." Canard turned around, storming back.

He walked up, taking Anna from Duke, brushing her mane.

"Come on, sis. Let's get outta here." he said, guiding the distraught girl back to his room.

Duke and Wildwing watched them go.

"What a piece of shit." Duke muttered beneath his breath.

"I'd like to give him a talking to myself." Wing's eyes narrowed over at Trent who was pulling himself off the ground and was being babied by the girl he had been making out with before.

Duke rolled his eyes, moving to go towards Trent, but Wildwing stopped him.

"No, Duke. Canard already talked to the kid. Let's just leave it alone. Come on, let's go get some food." Wildwing tried, guiding the ex-thief over to get a couple plates.

Duke sat down across from Wing, all the while unable to forget exactly what he had witnessed just now. Nosedive had been right, Trent didn't deserve Anna. He just hoped Anna knew that. He shook his head, picking up his fork and digging into the pasta salad that sat before him.

* * *

 _Author's note: So I just wanted to take a moment to thank XxWolfLord95xX for sending me ideas for this chapter... Much love! :) And I also wanna thank everyone who's gotten this far... just thanks for reading, this is my favorite story I've ever written which is why I'm redoing it for possibly the third time now because I want it to be perfect._

 _Alright, I'm done! On to the next chapter :)_


	22. Chapter 22

Anna was still crying into Canard's chest, wondering over and over again what was wrong with her and being constantly reminded by her brother that nothing was wrong with her, Trent was just a douchebag.

Finally, she calmed down a little, shuddering as her sobs subsided.

"Hey, kiddo. What do you say you sleep in my room tonight? Like old times?" he tried to comfort her. She nodded, tears still brimming her eyes a little though they had stopped running down her face.

"What about Kim?" she asked suddenly.

"She can stay in your room." Canard promised.

Anna nodded against his chest. Sounded like a good idea to her.

"That's a good idea. That way tomorrow when we wake up to go to the tower, Kim won't be disturbed by the alarm." Anna explained. Canard winced.

"Um, yeah. About that. You uh- You can't really go tomorrow." Canard muttered the last part quietly.

"Why not?" any sadness Anna had been experiencing before was replaced by anger and... possibly fear? Canard studied her for a moment, wondering why a look of fear had crossed her face.

"Because you're my second in command-"

"And as your second in command, I am your backup!" she growled, cutting him off.

"Exactly. If something happens to the team in the tower... If we get captured or if something happens to me-"

"Nothing's going to happen to you Canard."

"Kiddo-"

"Canard, I'm not letting you go alone! If something happened to you, I'd never forgive myself." she insisted.

He sighed out, rubbing the back of his neck.

"Kiddo, as my second in my command it's your duty-"

"Well maybe I don't want to be your second in command anymore!" she growled, "maybe I wanna be your third in command! Or fourth. Whatever number let's me go with you so I can watch your back!" she insisted.

"Anna, my decision is final." he said suddenly, giving her his "big brother" stare.

"Fine, my decision is final as well... I'll be sleeping in my room tonight." she glared at him as she marched out of his room.

He sighed. That definitely didn't go according to plan, but at least it appeared she was going to stay behind, whether she liked it or not.

* * *

Anna packed her back pack, putting extra food packets and a first aid kit in just in case. She checked her puck launcher, making sure it was fully loaded before setting it on the desk next to her saber. A knock came at the door and she rolled her eyes.

"Go away, Canard!" she growled.

"It's me." she froze, hearing Trent's voice. She stood up straight, frozen, as she stared at the door.

"Please let me in. I need to talk to you." came the muffled plea.

"There's nothing to talk about!" she insisted.

"Anna, can I at least explain?" came the plea.

She walked over to the door, sliding it open. She leaned against her doorway.

"Please do explain, Trenton! Please explain how you accidentally fell into her. How you accidentally got super glue on your beak and then pressed it against hers." she growled.

"Please, Anna. She means nothing to me!" Trent tried.

"Get out of here, Trent!" she growled, going to shut the door. He held his arm in front of it, activating the safety feature and causing it to stay open.

"Not until we talk about this!" he insisted.

"Trent, leave!" she growled. He tried shoving his way inside.

"Anna-"

"I'd listen to her if I was you." Both ducks were unaware of the grey duck that had walked up on the scene.

"What do you want!" Trent growled at him.

"I came to check on my friend. Figured I'd see how she was doing after being cheated on by a low life asshole." Duke shot at him.

"Shove off Duke, this isn't your business!" Trent sneered. Duke stepped closer to Trent, beak to beak.

"I'm making it my business." Duke's voice was low and threatening and Trent shrank back slightly.

He looked back at Anna before turning around to Duke.

"Oh, I see. She doesn't want to talk to me because she was busy being a little **_slut_** with you." Trent concluded. Before he could say any more, Duke reached back and punched him right between the eyes.

Trent fell back, hitting the floor with a thud. Anna's eyes went wide as she glanced back at Duke. Duke looked back at her, coming over and pulling her into a hug. She fell into him.

"I'm sorry, sweetheart." he muttered into her mane. She just burrowed deeper into him, never wanting him to let her go.

"he had no right to do that to ya." he added, rubbing her back.

Trent sat up, looking over to the two ducks.

"I knew it!" he proclaimed from where he sat. Duke let go of Anna, turning back to Trent. Anna stood behind Duke, not entirely sure of what his intentions would be.

"Shows what you know. Now I know why you were always so worried that Annie was cheating on ya. How long have you been sneaking around behind her back?" Duke asked suddenly. Trent looked away.

"I don't have to tell you anything." Trent muttered.

"Then tell me." Anna had heard the question, and stepped forward. "You wanted to talk, so talk. How long?" she asked, stepping in front of Duke. Trent stood up, face to face with her.

"Fine. Before the Christmas Party." he muttered. Tears brimmed her eyes, but she maintained her cool.

"How many?" she asked.

"What?" he asked suddenly.

"How many girls!" it came out as a yell and Duke put a hand on her shoulder, which stopped her from lunging at Trent.

"I don't have to tell you anything." he murmured, looking away from her.

"Trent." her voice had a warning tone to it, and he turned back to her.

"Fine... 3."

Anna's eyes widened as she took a step back from him.

"Get out of here, Trent." she demanded.

"What, Annie can't handle the truth now?" Trent asked suddenly. Duke gave him a hard look and stepped towards him. Trent jumped back, bumping into the wall.

"I'd listen to her if I was you." Duke repeated what he had said before, and Trent shrunk back. He definitely didn't want a repeat from before. He took his leave, walking down the hall.

Anna and Duke walked into her room, but as the door started to close, they heard Trent's voice again.

"Can I at least get my iQuack back?" came the call. Anna glared at nothing, pulling back a drawer hard and grabbing the device out of it. She walked to the door, stepped out into the hallway and chucked the device at Trent. Duke was still standing in the room, so he didn't see Trent. But he heard the slap of the device against Trent followed by his protesting "Owe!".

Anna turned in a huff, walking back into the room, the door shutting behind her. Her body was shaking with anger, and tears brimmed her eyes.

"Oh sweetheart." Duke shook his head, opening his arms to her as he sat down on the bed. Anna started crying as she sat beside him, accepting his embrace. "I'm so sorry, angel." he said, brushing her mane out of her face.

"Why? Why wasn't I good enough?" she cried into Duke's shoulder. He stopped, leaning her out to look at him.

"Not good enough? You've gotta be kidding me, sweetheart." he said, "he wasn't good enough for you. The night that he and Nosedive got into a drunken fight, Nosedive had been right. He didn't and still doesn't deserve you. I know it's hard, knowing you gave something you're all and finding out you weren't getting the same commitment back. But you just gotta look forward, and forget that it just didn't work out between the two of you."

She seemed content with his answer, and looked to believe what he said to be true.

"But Duke, I-" she cut herself off, nonchalantly touching her belly. He gave her a worried look.

"Anna, I don't care how much you loved him, trust me, you're better off." he tried again, figuring he knew what was bothering Anna.

"No, Duke. I... that's not what I'm trying to say. To hell with Trent. Yes, it hurts, but I can never forgive him." she finally said and Duke was content with her response.

"Then what is it?" he asked, knowing something else was on her mind. Tears brimmed her eyes again, and she just leaned into him.

"What?" he asked, "you're scaring me." he informed, pulling her back away from his body once again so he could look at her.

"Duke..." she trailed off, her troubled eyes meeting his. He brushed a stray hair out of her face and a fresh tear ran down her face.

"I'm pregnant."


	23. Chapter 23

"You're serious?" Duke asked. Anna nodded, a look of guilt on her face.

"How did this happen?" he asked.

"How do you think it happened!" she snapped at him, and he quickly shut his beak.

"How far along are you?" he asked her. She shook her head.

"I don't know. I found a test at an abandoned department store a little over a month ago, just a few days before Canard and I came looking for you, Wildwing and Nosedive. I can't very well tell Henry because he and Canard are best friends, and I think Henry is really the only duck around here with a medical background."

"Does Trent know?" Duke asked.

"No, and he's not going to know." it came as a threat, and Duke put his hands up in defense.

"Alright, alright. Trent will never know." he promised. She sighed out.

"Actually, you're the first one to know." she admitted, leaning back into his side. He wrapped his arm around her.

"Hey, don't worry sweetheart. We'll get through this." he promised, rubbing her arm.

 _We?_ she thought, and she felt her heart warm at this. She wasn't going to go through this alone.

"How bout this. I'll help you get up the courage to tell your brother after we take out Dragaunus tomorrow." he said.

"You'd do that?" she asked.

"Cross my heart. Until then, it'll be our little secret. Besides, I think it'd be a nice surprise. Take out Dragaunus and then announce a new member to the family? If that doesn't qualify as a good day, then I don't know what would." he encouraged. She smiled lovingly at him, nuzzling herself deeper into his side.

"Thanks, Duke. I don't know what I'd do without you."

* * *

Anna woke to her alarm going off. She sighed, hitting the button to turn it off. It was 5 in the morning. Canard's team wasn't leaving until about 8 or 9, but she knew there was always a possibility of him waking up around 6 in the morning, and she couldn't risk him stopping her. She could wait for him to leave and then follow him, but she was certain he'd put Henry in charge of making sure she didn't go anywhere that day. This was pretty much her only open window to make sure she was at the base to watch her brother's back.

She threw her already packed back pack on, holstered her puck launcher and strapped her sabre to her right shoulder.

She opened the door and peaked out. Nobody was around and she sighed with relief, heading off towards the aerowing. She snuck on board, grabbed one of the duck cycles from the cargo bay, and walked the duck cycle down the sewers. There was an opening not too far from the base that she could fit the duck cycle through and get out.

Once outside, she checked her compass, making sure she was facing the right way. When Canard first found the mask, he stepped out on the edge of the cliff of twin beaks and tried it on. He had found Dragaunus' tower right then and there, realizing how close it actually was to their base. Their base was underneath the North side of town and Dragaunus had set up base further North, so no duck would happen to stumble upon it by accident. She took a breath, starting up the duck cycle. She looked back to the base and sighed.

"he's not gonna be happy with me." she muttered before kicking the bike into gear and taking off. She narrowed her eyes. Though she couldn't see the terrible tower, she knew exactly where she was going.

* * *

Canard woke up around 6:30 and finally figured it was time to get up. Kim was still laying beside him and he smiled, kissing her bare shoulder. She shifted under his touch and she turned to look at him.

"Don't worry, I'm not heading out yet." he promised and she seemed to calm back down, sinking back into the sheets. He brushed her bangs out of her face and she smiled.

"I don't want you to go." she finally said with a sleepy tone to her voice.

"I know, Kimmy. But I've gotta." he insisted. She nodded.

"I know. Just, come back to me in one piece." she insisted. He nodded.

"I promise, Kimmy cub." he said, kissing her forhead. She craned her neck up, and their beaks met in a tender loving kiss.

"I love you Canard." she whispered, settling back into her pillow.

"I love you too, Kim." came his reply. He laid there for a minute, watching her fall back asleep before getting up and getting ready for the day.

As Canard walked down the hall, he found himself stopping beside Anna's door. He sighed out, knocking. No answer.

"Come on, Annie." he called, knocking again. Duke walked up just then, and Canard gave him a defeated look.

"I don't blame her for not answering." he muttered to Duke. Duke's eyebrows creased.

"Why wouldn't she answer you?" Duke asked. Canard sighed.

"I finally got around to telling her that she wasn't going today." he trailed off.

"She's not going?" Duke asked.

"She's my second in command. She can't, in case something happens or goes wrong." Canard explained.

"But, last night she had a packed bag on the desk..." Duke trailed off, a concerned look on his face. Canard looked at him funny before glancing back at the door. He began pounding louder on the door.

"Anna!" he yelled. Still no answer. He punched in the override code to unlock the door and both his and Duke's jaws dropped when they realized Anna was gone.

"Where'd she go?" Duke asked.

"Where do you think?" Canard muttered, flipping his comm up.

* * *

Anna had her hands tied behind her back, and she grunted as she flew back, hitting the wall. Dragaunus came up on her, picking her up by her shirt.

"I won't ask again. Where is the resistance base!" he demanded. She spat some blood from her beak and glared at him.

"Like I'd ever tell you." she muttered with a weak tone to her voice. He growled, tossing her back down to the ground.

Siege, get her in a talking mood." he called his second in command over and Siege growled, a grin to his face.

"Oh, I'm gonna enjoy this." he muttered, approaching Anna. Her com beeped on her wrist, and she cursed.

"What is that?" Dragaunus turned back, turning Anna around.

"Looks like a communicator." Siege muttered.

"Good." Dragaunus muttered.

"What?" Siege asked, a look of surprise on his face.

"This is Anna Thunderbeak, sister to the leader of the resistance. If Canard is trying to contact her..." he trailed off, giving Siege a knowing look.

"he'll come looking for her." Siege put two and two together and Dragaunus nodded, glancing back at Anna. She glared at him.

"Siege." he nodded towards Anna and Siege grinned as Dragaunus turned away again. "talking mood, just in case her brother is as tight lipped as she is."

"Like I said before, I'm really going to enjoy this." he chuckled, his tail swinging back and forth in anticipation.

* * *

"Fuck." Canard muttered after trying to get through to Anna's comm for the 3rd time. He slapped his comm shut glancing back at Duke.

"you think she went after Dragaunus?" Duke asked.

"Without a doubt." he muttered, opening his comm back up. Wildwing's face appeared on the screen. He looked a little groggy.

"Canard? What time is it? Did I sleep in?" Widlwing's sleepiness was replaced by adrenaline in thinking he must have overslept.

"No, but we're leaving now." Canard informed.

"Why, what's going on?" Wildwing could hear the weariness in Canard's voice.

"Anna's gone. I think she might have gone after Dragaunus by herself." he informed.

"Shit." Wildwing muttered, "alright, alright. Dive and I will meet you at the aerowing."

"Thanks Wing." Canard shut his comm looking back at Duke who just got off his own communicator with Tanya.

"I'll contact Mallory and you'll contact Grin?" Canard asked, beginning to walk towards the aerowing.

"Already on it." Duke said, opening up his comm again.


	24. Chapter 24

_Alright, it would definitely appear we are basically going off of the first episode at this point with a lot of Anna added in._

* * *

The aerowing was loaded up with Squad A before even 20 minutes had passed. They all geared up and Nosedive let out a cheer.

"Slammin gear Canard." he said, twirling the puck launcher around on his finger.

"Where'd you get the cool set of wings, Canard?" Wildwing asked, coming up to buckle in next to Canard.

"It's the last of the military's aerowings. We managed to hide it when the monitor towers attacked." Canard said as the jet rose up out of the ground.

"Now, let's pay Dragaunus a little visit." he said, pushing the throttle forward and allowing the jet to shoot off in the right direction.

He glanced back at his team after they had been in the air for a while.

"The monitor towers are controlled by a computer in Dragaunus' headquarters. That's our target." he announced.

"Yeah, but nobody's ever seen Dragaunus' headquarters!" Duke exclaimed. Canard pulled the mask from his pack, putting it on.

"I have." he said, activating it. "Now prepare yourselves, we're almost there."

"Here?" Mallory looked out the window, gesturing, "we're twenty klicks from nowhere!" she exclaimed.

"The master tower is surrounded by an invisibility shield, Dragaunus' cloak of darkness." Canard informed, seeing the tower clearly through the mask, "and we're about to pass through it." he announced as the master tower suddenly came into view for the rest of the ducks.

"Dragaunus' headquarters!" Wildwing exclaimed from his spot.

Canard landed the aerowing and everyone piled out, heading towards the base of the tower.

"shit." Canard muttered from his spot and everyone came to see what he was looking at. A single duck cycle sat at the base of the tower.

Duke went up, putting a hand on the side of the engine.

"It's cold." he informed.

"She's been here a while." Canard concluded, looking back at his team. They all looked at him as if he was a wounded puppy and he hated it.

"Nosedive, grab the duck cycle and load it up into the aerowing." Canard ordered. Nosedive obliged, happy that Canard was letting him do stuff. He pushed the duck cycle into the aerowing and then turned around to see the door closing on him.

"Yo, what about me!" he shouted.

"Be a team player, baby bro. Somebody's gotta watch the ship!" Wildwing called up.

"I think I just got the short end of the hockey stick!" Nosedive shouted as the door slammed in his face.

"Come on, if Anna's been here a while, she might already be engaging Dragaunus. She'll need back up." Canard said as they entered the tower.

 _Or she might have gotten herself captured_. Duke didn't say it out loud for Canard's sake, but he was definitely thinking it.

* * *

They rounded a corner and Canard stopped for a moment.

"The master computer is heavily fortified." he informed them before heading off down a corridor. It wasn't long before they reached a huge, heavy, thick door which blocked their way.

"Grin, you're on." Canard turned around, looking at the duck before pointing back at the door. Grin walked forward, spread his legs apart evenly and placed his hands in the cracks of the door.

"Mind, over metal." he muttered as he pulled the door apart with all his might. Everyone, besides Canard, looked in awe at what the giant duck had just accomplished.

"There it is. The master computer." Canard announced as the ducks walked into the room.

"Yeah, I saw this place on the cover of better homes and super villains." Duke muttered.

"Tanya, take Mallory and shut it down." Canard ordered. Tanya and Mallory nodded, running off in the direction of the super computer.

"Tanya, I've gotta warn ya. Machines and I don't get along too well." they heard Mallory warn. The ducks moved to continue down the corridor, when Wildwing stopped Canard.

"Canard, these guys all have special skills, but what am I doing here?" Wildwing asked, arching his eyebrow.

"You're gonna draw Dragaunus out, so we can jump him." Canard informed.

"Why me?!" Wildwing exclaimed.

"Because you're the best goalie I know. You'll be able to take anything Dragaunus can throw at ya."

"Did I mention I'm half-chicken." Wildwing said, a look of fear coming over his face.

* * *

Anna lay in the corner. Scratches from Dragaunus and Siege appeared all over her body. Bruises were forming here and there and her legs were so weak, she couldn't move. She felt warm liquid pooling up beneath her and knew she was lying in her own blood. Her stomach hurt, and she knew one of the lizards had cut her good across her stomach. Siege had been relentless, but she'd rather die than give up her team's location. She fidgeted, trying to reach up her sleeve but failing miserably.

"They've entered the main corridor, my lord." Siege informed, tapping some keys on the keyboard as he looked at the monitor.

"Good. Let them think they have the upper hand for now." Dragaunus muttered with a dark chuckle.

"Canard." Anna's voice came out a whisper as she laid there, completely powerless and knowing her brother was walking into a trap.

* * *

"There, the door to Dragaunus' command center." Canard announced as they came upon a door leading down a long hallway.

"We'll be right behind ya buddy." Canard promised, placing a reassuring hand on Wildwing's shoulder. Wildwing shuddered for a moment before nodding, and taking off down the hallway.

* * *

"One of those birds is headed this way." Siege reported, watching a glowing dot run down the corridors while the others stayed where they were.

"That must be Canard, come to save his baby sister." Dragaunus narrowed his eyes at the corner where Anna lay. Anna glared up at him.

"No." came the weak cry from Anna. Dragaunus just chuckled at her weak state.

"I think it's best we separate him from his pesky friends." he informed, hitting a button.

* * *

"We'll give him a thirty second start, then-" Canard was cut off as the door slammed shut in front of them.

"Well, so much for your plan Canard." Duke muttered from where he stood.

* * *

"Siege, take the others and deal with Canard's friends. I'll handle Canard." Dragaunus ordered. Siege nodded, looking at the others before disappearing in a green glow.

They appeared in front of three generally surprised ducks.

"Alright, let's pluck some duck!" Siege growled, his tail swinging with anticipation.

"I've a better idea, Siege. Let's roast them!" the Wraith growled, throwing a fireball towards where the ducks stood.

All three ducks dived out of the way and soon, they were fighting the saurians.

* * *

In the meantime, Wildwing made his way down the hall.

"You're the bait old pal, you're the decoy." Wildwing muttered as he ran down the hall, "ha! remind me to do you a favor sometime, Canard." he said sarcastically, glancing back to where he had left the other ducks. "Dragaunus' command center must have guards up the kazoo." he rounded the corner, seeing three drones standing guard.

"Oh man, I hate being right." he muttered. The drones saw him and started firing on him. He ducked back around the wall, a shiver going through him.

"okay, Widlwing... Let's give the kids a thrill!" he hyped himself up, ducking back out from behind the wall and firing towards the drones.

"Sayonara cyborg. Adios Android!" he said to the two separate drones that came up on him. He destroyed them easily before feeling a drone grab him from behind. He grabbed it and threw it against the door destroying it.

"Ha! That oughta get his attention." Wildwing muttered, feeling extra proud of himself. The door slid open, revealing Dragaunus standing there. Dragaunus let out a chuckle before hitting a button and disappearing from sight. The metal of the hunter drone that laid there crunched under the invisible weight of Dragaunus' foot.

"Oh boy... it got his attention..." he trailed off, backing up.

"How disappointing." came Dragaunus' disembodied voice. "I was hoping it would be that pest Canard. He's been causing me trouble for months, and I had a little surprise for him." he added the last part with a dark tone and Wildwing gulped.

"Uh, guys? You're supposed to be right behind me!" he said, glancing back before getting picked up unexpectedly. Dragaunus turned off his invisibility field, appearing in front of Wildwing.

"Now, duck. you're mine!" he growled before chuckling darkly.

* * *

Nosedive was sitting in the pilot chair, looking at the controls.

"Oh man, come on! If I could just get this heap in the air..." he glanced at the buttons in front of him, finally deciding on one.

"Woohoo, alright! Nosedive to tower, here goes nothing!" he announced as he hit the button with his eyes covered. He heard a sound and opened his eyes, seeing the wind shield wipers moving back and forth in front of him.

"Wrong!" he muttered, glancing sidesways.

* * *

Dragaunus dragged Wildwing through his command chamber and Wildwing did his best to struggle against him.

"Wildwing?" A weak voice had called out to him, and he turned his head in the direction. His eyes went wide, seeing Anna lying in a puddle of blood on the floor in the corner.

"Anna!" he exclaimed before looking back at Dragaunus. "What the hell did you do to her!" he growled, struggling much more as they left the room, heading down a hallway.

"I simply asked where the base was. She was quite insistent that I never find out." Dragaunus muttered as he came upon a ledge. He strapped Wildwing to a platform before pressing a button, causing Wildwing to float out to the middle of the room. Dragaunus chuckled before sliding a bar on his panel, and Widlwing began to lower. He looked down, seeing he was heading for a grid of rays.

"When you hit those rays, you'll be incinerated." Dragaunus let out a dark chuckle, "I've always had a passion for crispy duck."

"I don't suppose I could interest you in a nice pasta salad instead, huh?" Wildwing tried, grinning sheepishly.

* * *

Tanya attached the bomb into place, glancing down to where Mallory sat, awaiting instruction.

"Now throw the toggle switch!" Tanya yelled.

"Um, toggle switch..." Mallory glanced back, her eyes and finger moving between a switch and a button. "Affirmative!" she called, pressing the button. Suddenly, the bomb started counting down instantly.

"No! I told you to throw the switch, not press the button!" Tanya yelled, running and grabbing Mallory's arm. Both ducks took off running down the hall.

"Switch, button? What's the diff!" Mallory was more pissed at herself for being so foolish.

"About nine minutes of escape time!" came the response as the bombs blew up the corridor. The two females dropped down just in the nick of time.

* * *

In the meantime, Siege engaged Grin, while Canard went after the chameleon, gripping his arms around his puny little body.

"Stand still, you shape shifting sicko!" Canard growled, struggling to keep the chameleon still. The chameleon suddenly shifted beneath Canard, and ended up on the ground, looking like a toddler.

"I'm only three and a half years old!" came the tiny voice. Suddenly, the chameleon shifted again, punching Canard and knocking him down on the way up to becoming what looked to be a body builder.

"Kids grow up so fast these days." he said, no longer sounding like a toddler.

Duke glared down the wraith.

"Care to fight fire with fire!" he said, pulling out a flaming sword and slicing across Duke's chest. Duke stumbled for a moment, grabbing where his feathers had been singed. He glared up at the wraith before seeing that both he and the chameleon were approaching him.

Canard, meanwhile, was struggling to get back up. He looked up, seeing Siege standing over him.

"Your sister didn't put up this much of a fight." he gloated, and Canard's eyes went wide at this.

"Where is she!" he demanded suddenly.

"Doesn't matter. Cause in a few minutes, you're going to be lunch meat!" he growled, swinging his tail. Suddenly, his tail stopped swinging and he looked over to see grin had grabbed it. Grin, using all his might, swung the saurian around by his tail before barreling him into the other two. All three saurians hit the ground. They laid there for a second before a message appeared on Siege's wrist.

"Siege! Bring the others to the raptors at once! The power cells; they're overloading!" in a flash, the picture disappeared and Siege and the other two teleported back to the raptor.

"Anyone thinking, that was a little too easy?" Duke muttered, rubbing his chin while staring at where the saurians had been lying before.

"Forget it. We gotta find Wildwing... and Anna." Canard added the last part and Duke gave him a look.

"You think they got her too?" he asked.

"Siege couldn't stop gloating about it." Canard muttered, hanging his head. Duke walked up, a worried look on his face. He put a hand on Canard's shoulder.

"hey, don't worry. We'll find her." he promised.

"If she's still alive." Canard muttered before pulling himself together and leading the team down the corridor towards Dragaunus' command center.


	25. Chapter 25

Anna squinted against the pain. She gritted her teeth, working to get into her sleeve. Finally, she felt what she was looking for and pulled out her switch knife. She worked at getting the ropes cut as she felt cautiousness start to leave her. She looked up and through her blurry vision, she saw three figures approach her.

"Come back for more." she forced, squeezing her eyes shut against the pain and trying to move.

"Anna!" she recognized her brother's voice and looked back up, seeing Drake Ducaine's mask looking back at her.

"Canard?" she asked, not entirely sure if she had lost enough blood to start hallucinating. Duke was next to enter her line of vision. He and Canard both helped her sit up, though she squinted and gasped in pain the whole way up. Duke looked behind her to untie her and smirked.

"uh, did you try to get free already, Anna?" he muttered, seeing a knife laying there and an already pretty good cut made in the first layer of the rope. He grabbed the knife, slicing through the rest of the ropes. She sighed out in relief, bringing her arms around the front of her body as Duke pocketed the knife. As she moved, she gasped in pain, and Duke instinctively moved his arms around her to support her. Canard did the same and both ducks surrounded Anna as she gritted her teeth in pain.

"Anna, what hurts?" Duke asked.

"Everything." came the sarcastic yet pained reply. Duke kind of shook his head at her. He couldn't lie to himself. He saw the full damage that had been done to Anna, and he noted how much blood stained the fabric her stomach; he was worried about the baby.

"Anna-" she shoved him and Canard away, forcing herself to stand up. She went to walk forward but dizziness took over and she fell to her knees. Canard and Duke were both there on either side of her as she wrapped an arm around her stomach.

"Wildwing..." was all she said, pointing in the direction she had tried to go. Canard looked down the hall before glancing back at Anna.

"Shit. Duke, come on. We've gotta get Wildwing." he said, grabbing Duke's arm and heading for the hallway. Duke was reluctant to leave her, but did as his commanding officer said. Canard had a point; Wildwing could be just as bad as Anna or worse. Anna watched them go before collapsing. She felt two huge arms wrap around her and looked up to see Grin had picked her up.

"Thanks." she murmured. He nodded before running off in the direction Canard and Duke had gone.

"Anna!" Wildwing had already been rescued by Duke and was genuinely concerned and Canard and Duke backed away as Wildwing ran over. Grin lowered her to the ground, slowly so she could get her footing.

"Anna, are you alright?" he rushed her, grabbing her into a hug.

"I'm fine." she promised, though he raised a skeptical eyebrow as he pulled out of the hug.

"You're sure?" he was still very skeptical as she nodded. The base suddenly shook around them as Tanya and Mallory ran up on the scene. Anna lost her footing and fell back to her knees. She hated being so weak.

"Grab your socks, troops! In 30 seconds, we're all going to be toast!" Mallory announced.

Wildwing dropped down next to Anna and Duke and Canard moved closer, in case he needed help getting her up.

"Alright, come on Anna." he said, wrapping her arm around his shoulders and wrapping his arm around her waist. She glanced at him and he gave her an encouraging smile.

Another loud boom rocked the base and Tanya and Mallory dropped from a blast that exploded the wall next to them.

Canard ran over, looking out to the spot he swore he had parked the aerowing.

"The aerowing's gone!" he exclaimed as the ducks crowded around him. He turned back, looking at Wildwing. He pointed an accusing finger at him.

"That kid brother of yours, he-" he was cut off by the sound of engines and the aerowing dropped down. The door opened and Anna shot her brother a glare.

"That kid brother did what?" she snapped at Canard. He ignored her. She was injured, and he didn't feel like opening this can of worms right now, though he knew she did have a point. The kid really came through just now.

Everyone hopped on except for Wildwing and Anna. Duke turned back, reaching out his hand. Wildwing helped her keep her balance as she reached out to Duke. The base shook again and her and Wildwing nearly lost their footing. She fell forward into Duke's chest and he caught her.

She glanced up and gasped, seeing a rip in his shirt. some blood stuck out and she glanced up at him.

"Just a little burn, sweetheart." he promised as Wing landed beside them.

"Come on." he ordered as they all crowded into the aerowing. The door closed behind them and the aerowing took off, barely clearing the explosion.

Duke helped Anna over to the gurney that was strapped into the back. She protested against it, but she was too weak and Duke forced her to lay down. Canard came over, placing a hand on Duke's shoulder. Duke looked back at him and Canard just nodded, giving Duke the ok to sit down at his rightful spot. Canard sat in the chair that was bolted next to the gurney. He lifted Anna's shirt, and she cringed as the fabric peeled away from her skin. He examined the cuts and saw how deep they truly ran. He silently worked, pulling out a first aid kit and quickly cleaning the wound.

"Canard I-"

"Shh, don't say anything sis. I'm the one who's sorry." he did that thing again where he could read her mind. "I should have let you come. This wouldn't have happened if you would have been with the team." he admitted, quickly working to sew up that first cut. Henry had taught him all this a few months back in case Canard ever needed to know how.

"What the heck is that?" Wildwing exclaimed from the front, and Canard glanced up, seeing what the rest of them were seeing. Anna craned her head to see, but flinched again, having moved wrong. Canard forced her to stay down as he got to work sewing up the second cut.

"The ship seems to be generating some sort of dimensional gateway." Tanya informed. Wildwing leaned against Nosedive's chair.

"Then we'll follow them!" he paused, looking at Dive, "come on, baby bro, punch it!" Nosedive nodded.

"Hold on!" he announced as the ship entered the portal following the saurians. Canard finished up stitching that. He had to admit, he was trying to work fast before they engaged Dragaunus again. He was definitely going to force her to stay on the ship once they did catch up to the raptor, but he didn't want to risk leaving her to bleed out while they fought Dragaunus for the second time that day. He started up on the very last huge cut and Anna just stared at him as he worked.

"Your ribs are bruised." he muttered, quickly working with the needle.

"Bruised, or broken?" she muttered, leaning her head back in pain.

"Possibly both." he said, tying off the last thread and cutting the string. He put the needle back in the first aid kit just as the ship started to shake. He leaned against the gurney for support as he and Anna both looked up to the window. Some electric blue mass had connected with the ship.

"Tanya, what is that!" he heard Wildwing ask.

"Well if I didn't know better, I'd say that's an electro-magnetic worm!" Tanya exclaimed.

"Hey, if that thing gets big enough, it could swallow the entire ship!" Duke added as the ship shook.

Canard saw the worry on his team's faces and glanced back at his baby sister. He leaned over, pulling her into a hug. She was startled at first, but returned the hug. He kissed her forehead and she looked at him hard. He took a breath and took his dog tags off, handing them to her.

"I'll be back for these." he promised, moving away from her towards the side door.

"Wh- wh-... wait." she finally found a word she could grasp onto.

"We're gonna have to jettison something!" Wildwing ordered, glancing around the ship.

"Well, like what? Everything is bolted down!" Tanya didn't seem to have any answers that Wildwing wanted, and his face showed it.

The side door slid open and wind howled through the ship. Wildwing glanced back, but any anger from before suddenly disappeared as he ran over to the door.

"Canard, what are you doing?" he asked, putting his hands up.

"You heard, Tanya. I'm gonna shut that thing down!" he said, moving to jump.

"Canard, stop!" Anna screamed from the back of the ship. She moved to get off the gurney but lost her footing and fell on her stomach. She gasped, making a mental note to fall on her back next time.

"Are you crazy!" Wildwing echoed Anna's concerns as he grabbed Canard, turning him back to face him. Canard looked at him hard before taking off the mask.

"It's the only way. Take it, Wildwing." Wildwing shook his head, backing away from the mask. "Take it!" Canard ordered before suddenly the worm wrapped itself around Canard's ankle. Canard let out a surprised yelp as the worm dragged him out of the aerowing.

"Canard!" Wildwing and Anna both called at the same time, and Anna started pulling herself across the floor. Why the fuck weren't her legs working the way she wanted them to?

Wildwing latched onto Canard's arm and Grin moved to grab onto Wildwing's waist. Canard's arm began to slip from Wildwing's grasp until soon, he was only holding onto one end of the mask while Wildwing gripped the other end.

Canard looked frightened at first, but then his gaze hardened at Wildwing.

"Take care of my baby sister." he ordered, "Take it, you're team captain now." with that final sentence, Canard let go of the mask.

"Canard!" Anna screamed, seeing him release the mask.

"No!" Wildwing matched Anna's anguish as he and Grin fell back. Anna tried to crawl faster, heading right for the door. Duke closed it and Anna glared up at him before she started pounding on the door. Tears were already wetting the feathers around her cheeks.

"No! No, no, no! Not my brother! Take me!" she screamed at the door where she watched her brother disappear. Duke dropped down beside her and pulled into a hug. She didn't fight him as she just fell against his chest, bawling. He glanced back over at Wildwing.

"He sacrificed himself, to save us." he recapped.

"Truly an evolved soul." Grin added.

Wildwing was numb. He didn't cry, and hardly let any emotion show as he stared at the mask.

"Uh, guys? Those dino creeps are getting away!" Nosedive called from the pilot's seat. Tanya walked up.

"Oh no, they must have passed through the other end of the gateway!" she informed him. That seemed to pull Wildwing from his shock. He lowered the mask into his side bag then stood up. His eyes narrowed, and suddenly he was hell bent on revenge.

"Then that's where we're going!" he growled, "punch it, Nosedive."

They came out of the gateway and were suddenly surrounded by blue skies and green trees.

"Ugh! Where's the raptor!" Mallory growled. They passed a sign that read "Welcome to Anaheim, Home of the Mighty Frogs."

Wildwing just glanced over at her. "More to the point, where are we?"

* * *

 _And... that's the end! Hope you enjoyed the revamp and I'm so looking forward to writing the series... I'm probably going to do things a little differently this time... last time I only wrote the episodes that pertained to Anna... I'm going to try to rewrite most of the episodes this go around so the ducks can build the relationships... at the same time, I feel like I really don't want to do such episodes like mondo-man because... oh my god, that episode is terrible. I mean, props to you if you like it but it's just painful how oblivious Mondo-man is to who the real heroes are and his character just bother me... but I've come to terms with the fact that I have to write it simply because of the "duckonite" mondo-man uses against the ducks... and that's just a reason you'll have to wait to find out. I'm just not sure how many episodes I'll do but I'm going to try to do them all, or at least most of them this time around._

 _Anyways, love you all! If you've made it this far thank you! And the next one will come out with the title "My Time on Earth" so be watching for that!_

 _Thanks! Bye!_


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